Young Justice: The Titan Initiative
by Shadow2017
Summary: Under Rewirite
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

 **Forming the Titans**

 **Disclaimers**

 **I do not own anything to do with DC, Young Justice or submitted OC's, only my own OC's and stories. This applies to all chapters.**

 **This story will be close to the comics in rating, as such there will be bad language, violence, death, drug use and sexual references. Though any sex that does happen will be implied (I don't feel comfortable writing sex scenes and don't want this story to be read for the wrong reasons)**

 **There will be several crossovers in the series. These are themes and species and objects but no characters or stories from those series. All characters linked to these will be original. These series are:**

 **Rick Riordan's Demigod series**

 **Dragonball**

 **Ben 10 (Probably won't but putting here just in case)**

 **Space**

 **July 4** **th** **, 2020**

 **9:16 am**

 **The Watchtower**

After the defeat of Darkseid two years ago the number of Metahumans on Earth drastically rose, as did the crime rate involving them. No one knew if it was Darkseid's direct involvement or simply the stress of his attempted invasion that caused the meta-genes to activate in such great numbers. Either way the fact was that they were increasing and at a faster rate than ever before. At first this was manageable, most were inexperienced and those that turned to crime were quickly caught before they could harm the public while those who wished to control their powers, or use them for the greater good, were given proper training. But now it was becoming increasingly difficult to keep up with the influx of new heroes, criminals and those in-between.

In response to this, both the Justice League and the Team were to start up the Titan Initiative, a plan to both train young heroes and take some pressure off the League and the Team, who would deal with world threatening events and covert missions respectively. Each Titan Team would be set up in a different city and deal with local crimes while assisting the two senior teams if needed. Only those with experience, control over their abilities, if they had any, and with the right mentality would be taken on. And that was why the Watchtower was bustling with activity.

And that's why Dick Grayson, who had taken over the mantle of Batman after Bruce's death at the hands of Darkseid, sat in a dark room as far away from everyone as possible, going through every file with a fine toothcomb. This was only a trail run but if successful then every major city could be set up with their own personal heroes. Five cities agreed to allow these teams to be set up and he had already chosen team members for four cities, Coast City, Central and Keystone City, Midway City, and Star City and there was only one left, Metropolis. He had not chosen these last ones himself, they were chosen by an AI Bruce made before his death. In fact, the whole Titan Initiative was his idea from when the Team first formed, though he never had reason to implement it. Now it necessary for the Titans to be formed he wanted to honour his fallen father by using the team his AI chose.

"Ok Martha, show me the final team," Dick said to the AI.

" **Affirmative,"** the AI said with a feminine voice. A hologram of a tall, athletic African-American boy appeared in front of them. He had short dyed electric blue hair and matching eyes. He was handsome with a look that was both kind and gentle yet also serious. He wore blue jeans and an orange t-shirt with what looked like a bronze ancient Greek style cuirass over the top.

" **Jaden Drake, code name Hadari, translated as Storm from Hausa,"** The computer read out. **"Seventeen years old from New York, his powers manifested approximately four years ago and has been making a name for himself as a hero since. Most of his feats have been solo but he has teamed up with other local heroes and each time he took command and showed great leadership skills. His powers include electrokinesis, aerokinesis, weather control and enhanced physical abilities too. His powers were inherited from his father, the Greek god Zeus. Chosen as Leader for the Titans due to his experience and leadership qualities."**

"That makes Jaden a demigod and the half brother of Wonder Woman," he said quietly to himself. His file did say he had ADHD, though that was what kept him on his toes and it didn't seem to impact his ability to lead. "And he does seem like a competent leader. Ok, who's next?"

The hologram of Jaden faded and a that of a girl took its place. She too was tall, though not as tall as Jaden. Her ethnicity was hard to tell as she was covered head to toe in green scales, but the file listed her as being born somewhere in Greece. She was slightly more muscled than Jaden but not by much and had claws on both her hands and feet, a long powerful looking tail with a blade at the end of it and a large pair of wings. She had shoulder length blond hair with red streaks in them and a pair of green reptile-like eyes. Despite her ferocious looking appearance, she could still be described as attractive, if one could get past the death glare she was giving. She wore a dark green hoodie with holes cut in the back for her wings, black jeans, and brown boots with the toes missing for her claws to stick through.

All her clothes were tattered and torn in places, not counting the holes she made to accommodate her appearance, as though she had been living on the streets, which according to her file she had been.

 **Athena Kazan, code name Dragon. Seventeen years old and originally from Greece but turned up in New York just over two years ago. She has mostly been seen pairing up with Hadari since coming to New York but before that she wondered across Greece, fighting crime whenever she comes across it. Her abilities include super strength, durability, senses, flight and the ability to breathe fire. Her claws, teeth and tail blade are strong and sharp enough to cut through steel. The origin of her powers is currently unknown.**

Going through her file he saw that she was described hot-headed, stubborn and arrogant, but she also knew when to cool it and could follow orders going by her time with Hadari. He'd worked with people like that before, Superboy and Wonder Girl both came to mind. But at least she worked well with others and that was key for a team. "Ok, Martha, who's number three?"

The hologram changed again and this time it was a mix-raced boy with a tanned complexion that didn't even hit the five-foot mark and was quite thin. He had pale green eyes and neat honey-beige hair that reached down to the back of his neck and cheeks. He was wearing matching blue hoodie and pants with black tennis shoes. He had a look on his face that gave the impression he was always thinking.

 **Luz Lupina, code name Hack. Thirteen years old, he only recently acquiring his abilities he has quickly become a common sight in Phoenix, Arizona, usually involving himself in emergency calls, though he has only face a few small-time metahuman criminals he has subdued them without causing any further damage or lose of lives. Currently his known powers are super intelligence, technopathy and limited telekinesis. Though his most prominent feature is his armour,"** the hologram switched to show hack in his armour. It was jet black and looked like a cross between high grade swat gear and samurai armour. It looked perfectly constructed, and there were no visible weak points that Dick could see. **"The full capabilities of the armour are unknown, but it does give him enhanced strength, durability, flight and access to a wide range of weapons. His powers manifested shortly after he got back from visiting a gene therapy facility."**

That last thing Martha told him made him wonder. Currently it is thought to be impossible to legally give someone powers. All known methods were outlawed and even those posed very high fatality rates. So, either he had the abilities already and they were woken up or this facility was doing shady research. Either way he'd have to investigate just in case. Hack's abilities coupled with his armour would make him perfect for the team. "Martha show me the next one."

The hologram switched again, and he was met this time with someone he knew. It was a Caucasian girl who was little over five foot tall. She had long blonde hair tied back in a ponytail, dark blue eyes and an athletic build. She was the only one so far in costume. She wore a black skin-tight jumpsuit and a silver belt with throwing knives attached to them, over this she wore a black leather duster. Finishing off her outfit was a domino mask with a gold trim on her face. And she wore an expression that read "I'm better than you and I know it", which from his few encounters with her was exactly what she was like.

 **Riley Andrews, code name Artillery. Fifteen years old and born and raised in Gotham, Riley has been active for just over a year and has been involved in stopping many minor crimes and one major one. Her most prominent act was when she fought the criminal Deathstroke and lived, albeit with the interference of Batman, Batgirl and Red Robin. She has no superpowers but is very capable in hand to hand combat and her sword skills allowed her to survive several minutes against Deathstroke and only sustained minor injuries.**

"Yeah, I know all about her," Dick said with a smile. He ran into her a few times and was impressed with what he saw. Though he had no illusions that had he and the others not intervened that she would have died facing Deathstroke, she did let the victory go to her head. Still, she was good and more skilled than he was at that age… maybe. "Right let's move on to the next."

This time the hologram was replaced with a Hispanic teenage boy of average height. His brown hair was spiked at the top and become straight as it went further down, almost reaching his neck. His eyes were brown with a hint of jitteriness to them and he was quite thin but lean, giving him a look of a soccer player. He wore a green t-shirt with dark green stripes, khaki cargo shorts and a pair of brown sandals.

 **Marcus Rodriguez, code name Blue Lantern. Sixteen years old from the Spanish city Barcelona his file says he delivered food to those in the area that was hit hard in Darkseid's attack. The area in question was being pressured by a local mob boss who was attempting to force the citizens to work for him. Marcus disappeared for three days before returning with a Blue Lantern ring and disbanding the gang. Currently his known powers all come from his ring, which are similar though less powerful than that of a Green Lantern with limited use of constructs without the presence of a Green Lantern. The ring also allows him to heal others slowly by just being near him but faster if he focuses on it.**

"He would be great addition to the team," Dick said. There were many times where the ability to heal would have been great in the past and with this team being based in Metropolis they would need it. His file did say that he also had ADHD, that made two on the same team with it, but he didn't see that as a problem. In fact, it might help get them alive. "Ok, we are nearly done here," he said rubbing his eyes. He had been at this for a while now and even he needed sleep from time to time. "Show me the last one, Martha."

" **Affirmative,"** she said

The hologram of Marcus disappeared and the last member for the Metropolis team appeared. She was Caucasian with a light tan and about an inch shorter than Marcus. She had curly crimson hair that reached halfway down her back in loose curls and side swept bangs and her eyes were a beautiful emerald green. Her build was curvy and fit, and she was strikingly beautiful, which probably attracted all kinds of attention. Her outfit consisted of a white tank top with a leather jacket, black combat boots. blue skinny jeans and a silver cross hanging from her neck.

 **Satana Chambers, doesn't use a code name and goes by her first name. Sixteen years old from San Francisco, she first came to the attention of the Justice League in 2010 when she was rescued by Doctor Fate from her abusive mother, the Red Witch, and given to a foster family. A close eye was kept on her in case she developed the same magical capabilities as her mother. One year ago, her powers manifested after she was abducted by a cult who worshiped the demon lord Trigon. Doctor Fate moved to save her but by the time he got there the cult had been dealt with and their plans thwarted. She has been living with Doctor Fate at his tower since and has become one of the most powerful magic users of her age. As you may have noticed her power is magic and uses a variety of spells using words spoken in Latin, talismans and through her cat familiar Hecate.**

He had heard about her and seen her training once when he visited Doctor Fate. Her power had been both incredible and terrifying to see. But she showed no sign of becoming like her mother and she has shown to be a very caring person when she wants to be.

"Let's recap," he said to Martha. "We have a demigod, a dragon-girl, a boy genius, a sword wielding prodigy, a healer and a sorceress for our Metropolis team."

" **Correct,"** she replied. **"These were the most experienced of the remaining candidates and all have shown at least some capabilities to work with others in the past. The others have none or limited of these qualities, but I have marked several of them for future teams or to replace any of ones I have chosen should they decline the invite."**

He was sure they wouldn't refuse but it was nice to have a backup plan. "Thank you, Martha. Please send the invites and contact Doctor Fate. We may need to "persuade" their parents." And by that he meant alter their minds. It never sat well with him that they had to resort to this but most of these teens would end up trying to be heroes anyway and at least this way they always had back up and could be in constant contact with the Justice League and thus reduce any risk of death or permanent injury. It wasn't perfect, but it posed the fewest risks and better this than them dying in some alleyway alone.

" **Affirmative,"** she replied. **"Now please go and get some rest. You are only human after all."**

Dick chuckled at this. For an AI she was very motherly. "Ok, Martha, I will." He stood up and went to leave when she called after him again.

" **And get something to eat, you have not done so in ten hours."**

"Got it," he called back and left Martha to do her thing.

 **-0000-**

 **Unknown Location**

Meanwhile at an undisclosed location, Amanda Waller sat behind her desk, going through her own files on her laptop. Amanda was a short, slightly overweight, African-American woman with black hair clamped back into a ponytail. She wore an unbuttoned navy-blue suit jacket, a light-blue shirt underneath, a pair of brownish ear rings and a black tie. She also wore a knee-length navy blue skirt and black heels.

As she worked away a middle-aged man with dark hair walked in. He wore a black trench coat that covered him right down to his feet and a pair of black sunglasses. On his face was plastered a constant grin and he gave of an aura of a very dangerous man. He didn't speak right away, he waited for Waller to speak first.

"What do you want, Zaniel?" she asked the man coldly without looking away from her work.

His grin widened. "I just thought you'd like to know that the brainboxes down stairs have detected an alien object heading towards Earth."

Waller closed her laptop and looked at him with piqued interest. "Go on," she told him.

"It's hard to tell exactly what it is as it has only just entered our system, but it appears to be a small craft, possibly an escape pod, and, given its speed and trajectory, they believe it will land in Metropolis in about one month."

Waller seemed to think about it, though Zaniel already knew what her answer was going to be. She was probably already think about applications of whatever tech could be scavenged from it.

"Take a team to recover the pod, and whatever maybe inside it, living or otherwise," she told him. "And make sure no one else finds out about this pod

He nodded "And what about any do-gooders?"

"Do as you see fit. But do not get caught."

Zaniel said nothing, he just nodded again and left. With his departure she reopened her laptop and looked back at the file, which read.

Project 0 – Unstable

Project 1 – Deceased

Project 2 – Deceased

Project 3 – Deceased

Project 4 – MIA

Project 5 – Contained

Project 6 – Contained

Project 7 – Contained

Project 8 – Deceased

Project 9 – MIA

Project 10 – Contained

Project 11 – Active

Project 12 – Active

Project 13 – MIA

 _Too many missing or dead,_ she thought to herself. _And with Zero unstable I can't send it to retrieve 4, 9 and 13._ She let out a sigh. She had a feeling that these next few months were going to be tough.

 **End of Prologue.**

 **Quick notes**

 **I am sure Hadari is correct for storm in Hausa, but I could be wrong.**


	2. A Gathering of Heroes

**Chapter 01**

 **A Gathering of Heroes**

 **Authors Note**

 **When the heroes are in their everyday clothes I will refer to them by their civilian names, hero gear then hero names.**

 **I now have a twitter specifically for fanfiction now, for those that want to follow it's ShadowWriter131. I'll tweet on there when I upload and if anyone wants to contact me or just talk then that's probably the best place.**

* * *

 **Metropolis**

 **August 14** **th**

 **11:46 am**

 **Titans Tower Five**

The Titans Tower sat out on a manmade island just off the shore of Metropolis. It was two-hundred feet tall and fifty-foot-wide at its base. The top floors were wider and made the building look like a giant T. It was equipped with everything from a gym, to an infirmary and had living quarters and a kitchen comparable to those found in a five-star hotel. There were several floors built into the island for vehicles and storage and there was even a personal zeta-pad for the heroes to use if needed. It was a very big place for just six teenage heroes, but if the Titans Initiative was successful it was expected that its number of inhabitants would no doubt increase.

For Jaden it was a little daunting. He had lived in small apartments his whole life and the sheer size of this place made him feel a little agoraphobic. Athena on the other hand didn't seem to care and stood leaning against the roof entrance with her eyes closed, soaking up the summer sun's rays. The two of them were waiting on the roof for their other teammates to arrive and he couldn't help but be a little nervous. The six of them had met a few weeks ago and went through several training sessions, closely watched by Batman himself. They had done well and worked very well together, they were even praised by the Dark Knight himself, but starting from today it would all be real. Not that it hadn't been real before, all of them had experienced the life of a hero to one degree or another, but if felt more so now that he knew he was on an official team. He didn't know if he was sweating from the heat or the thought of leading a team.

"Relax Sparky," Athena called over. "Don't need you calling a storm down on us."

Jaden looked up and he realized he had been unintentionally creating storm clouds above them. Concentrate on them, he quickly dispersed them. "Sorry about that," he said with a very slight accent, hinting at his African heritage. "I didn't realize I was that nervous," he added sheepishly.

Athena walked over to him and placed a hand oh his shoulder, giving him a reassuring smile as she did. "Don't worry about it. You may be the leader, but we will be part of a team and that means we'll all under the same pressure. But if we work together we'll be just fine."

He smiled back. "Wow, that almost sounded profound," he teased.

She gave him a playful punch in the arm, though with her strength it still hurt. "Don't make me kick your ass again."

"I don't remember you ever kicking my ass."

"Oh, it's on," she said cracking her knuckles.

Thankfully, before she could beat the demigod out of him, the others arrived. In a flash of light, Riley, Luz, Marcus and Satana materialized via zeta-beam not ten feet from them. And they were not the only ones. Batman had come with them.

"We interrupting something?" Riley said with a grin looking at the two of them.

"Yeah, me pummeling this guy," Athena said before Jaden could speak.

"Glad to see you're all getting along," Batman said in his usual gruff voice. "From today on you will be working with each other more closely." He handed them all an orange disk that fit into the palms of their hands and was about an inch thick. On the front of them was black T. "These are your communicators. Inside is an earpiece for communication while the device itself works as a signal booster and has its own private channel. There are more in the monitor room should you need them but please do not lose them."

"We won't," Jaden reassured him. "Will we?" he asked turning to his teammates, only to see Luz taking his apart already. Luz looked back at Jaden as if to ask what he did wrong. "Well, he hasn't lost it," Jaden offered.

Batman didn't seem to mind this, in fact he almost seemed amused. "It's fine. Now onto the Tower. I'd give you a tour, but my time here is limited so I've left directions in the monitor room should you need them. Now, as for living here. Most of you have homes already so can come and go as you please, but there will always be a room here for you should you need it. Anything you need, just ask at the computer in the monitor room and we will get it to you as soon as we can, so long as it's reasonable. Finally, your costumes are ready as per your requests, they'll be in the monitor room along with your first assignment." He looked at the six young heroes for a moment before continuing. "And remember, you got here on your own merits and I expect you to do great things." And with that Batman vanished in a flash of light.

For several moments they stood there just staring at where Batman had been. As of now they were a team and entrusted with keeping Metropolis safe. True, this was Superman's stomping ground, but it was still a big responsibility.

The silence was finally broken by Riley. "Come on," she said excitedly. "Let get changed." And with that the six teens entered the tower.

 **-0000-**

Once they found their costumes, they each went to pick a room to claim as their own and got changed. After which they would all meet back in the monitor room. The monitor room took up half of the uppermost floor and doubled as a living area when they were off duty. It had a fully stocked kitchen, a reading area inside a large bubble for extra peace and quiet, and a large curved couch in front of a cinema sized TV which was also the Tower's main computer. A window stretched the length of the room, overlooking the Metropolis bay.

Jaden was the first to arrive in his Hadari gear. It was very similar to ancient Greek armour with a bronze breastplate, greaves and a helmet, minus the plumage due to a bad experience using his electrical powers. His also had gauntlets with the left one having a retractable shield and the right having a taser like weapon attached to it to channel his power. He wore all this over a red bodysuit for extra protection. To top off his look of an ancient Greek solider was a bronze quarterstaff that could turn into a spear at the push of a button. All this was made of a celestial and mortal bronze blend, a combination once thought impossible, that would protect him from threats from both realms.

Riley, or rather, Artillery was next. Hadari had seen her in the gear before, though Artillery's was brand new and clean, unlike her old gear which he was surprised had lasted so long. Her sword was attached to the back of her coat as though it were held there by magic, which was true in part. Its scabbard would melt into the coat when she laid her hand on the hilt of her sword and reform when she put it back again, allowing easy access and storage for it.

Marcus's Blue Lantern costume had changed a little. Before it was almost identical to Hal's Green Lantern outfit, obviously except his was blue. Now all the black had been replaced with white with a patch of blue covering the top of his shoulders and neckline and came down in an arrow shape to his waist where it curved round to his back and went back up to join the shoulders again. He had blue boots that covered up to his shins and gloves that reached halfway up his forearms. Topping off his outfit was a blue domino mask and his ring on his right hand.

Luz come out and he was wearing a black jumpsuit with green lines like that on a circuit board covering it. It wasn't his true Hack gear, more of a power source and material for the nanites hidden within his body to turn into his armour, at least that's what he told him. Hadari was also sure it was capable of much more but asking Hack meant listening to him for hours about things that went way over his head.

Athena and Satana were the last out and it was the first time he had ever seen them out of their civilian clothes. Athena's Dragon costume was a dark green bodysuit several shades darker than her scales with holes for her tail, wings and claws to stick through comfortably. She also wore a yellow vest with a blouse of a slightly lighter green than her suit but darker than her scales over it. He was sure the vest and blouse were not part of the suit and she wore them simply because she liked them.

Satana was wearing a black sleeveless V-neck top with a red cross in the center of it, a black skirt, black fingerless gloves and black knee-high boots with six straps on each. She also had a red cape that reached down to meet the hem of her skirt. She looked amazing and Hadari stared for a second too long before he was met with a gaze that could turn fire to ice and looked away.

"You all look great," Hadari told them. "We all definitely look the part now."

"Well, I wouldn't say that," Artillery said. "Some of us look like they're looking to get laid," she directed this at Satana. Suddenly she fell face first into the carpet, much to everyone's surprise, except for Satana. She stood up as fast as she could and marched over to Satana till she was inches away from her. "That was so not funny," she said with an irritated tone.

"What are you talking about?" she asked with a straight face. "You should try to be less clumsy."

Artillery squared up to the taller girl and looked as though a fight was about to happen. Thankfully instead she burst out laughing. "All right, all right, we'll call it even," she held her hand out and the two of them shook.

Had Hadari not witnessed it during their training sessions he would have said that a close bond between those two would be impossible. They were about as opposite as you could imagine, in fact the only thing they had in common was they appreciation for the colour black.

"Why, don't you too just kiss already," Dragon joked.

"We will when you and Hack do," Artillery shot back.

"Our love is platonic," Hack said with a hand on his heart and a grin on his face.

"Hey if we're sharing out kisses I'll take some from you lovely ladies," Blue said.

"No!" all three of them said at once.

This sent them all into a laughing fit. It was great to see them all get along. When they all met less than a month ago they were all had apprehensions about working with people they didn't know. But after working together in the training sessions they all opened up to each other. Even Blue, who was usually distant came out of his shell a little.

"So, who made this?" Hack asked Hadari once they were done laughing. "I made mine and Blue's is made from his ring but these," he said running his hand over Dragon's suit, much to her annoyance and discomfort that he was oblivious to, "These are very well made."

"You can thank the Hephaestus Cabin at Camp Half-Blood," he told him.

"The training camp for demigods?"

"Yeah, when I told them I was going to be a superhero they jumped at a chance to make them. So, I asked Batman if it was ok and he said yes. They even made some improvements."

"What kind of improvements?" Hack asked, curiously.

"They told me that the suits will stop small caliber bullets and can regenerate themselves if damaged. They also said something about how the suits will protect you to a certain degree on areas they don't cover but it was like listening to you and I sort of zoned out."

Hack nodded and was lost in deep thought. "I can make better," he said to himself. "Just need the right materials." His hand armored up and a holo-computer appeared, and he started taking notes.

"So, while he's lost in thought, what's our first assignment," Dragon asked.

Hadari picked up the note left by Batman. "Ok, who's ready?"

"This is going to be awesome," Artillery said with a massive grin on her face.

 **-0000-**

 **Central Metropolis**

"This sucks donkey balls," Artillery complained over the communicator.

Hadari and Satana stood on top of a building watching over a large crowd forming below them in front of a stage that stood in the middle of an intersection. Blue and Dragon were on another building opposite them, while Artillery and Hack were covering the only two alleyways leading towards the crowd. There were news vans and black sedans dotting the outside of the event and dozens of men and women in black suits were wondering round, watching for anything out of the ordinary, just as the team was doing.

"I know, but we can't really say no if the League has asked us to do it," Hadari consoled.

"But helping guard Luthor of all people," she retorted. "And he has his own personal army anyway, so we don't even need to be here."

"I agree with Artillery," Blue added. "Why do we have to help this gilipollas?"

Hadari didn't understand Spanish but he assumed whatever he said it wasn't nice. "Well he is the president and I'm pretty sure without him the Titans wouldn't exist."

This was mostly true. While the Justice League had put forth the idea for setting up Titan teams in major cities, it was Luthor that authorized it. Not many people liked the idea of having teenagers protecting cities. With "inexperienced", "immature" and "immoral" being just some of the opinions thrown around. But Luthor talked everyone round to the idea and even donated a lot of money to the League to build the Towers.

"Doesn't mean we have to like him."

"No, it doesn't," Hadari agreed. "But we have a job to do and regardless of what we think we have to do it to the best of our ability. Anyone see anything?" A chorus of negatives came over the communicator and he nodded. "Good, but keep your eyes peeled just in case."

They continued to watch over the crowd as a loud cheer went up. President Lex Luthor exited a building, flanked by a dozen bodyguards, with the usual confident smile and took the stage. He wore his presidential blue suit and red tie. He only wore these because the blue suit had a subliminal calming effect and the red tie projected confidence, he even said this himself. He waited for the cheering to die down before speaking into the mic.

"Greetings citizens of Metropolis and thank you for coming out on such a fine day, were it not for my duties I'd probably be at the beach instead of here." This elicited a few chuckles. "But I digress. Some of you are wondering why I'm here and others can probably guess. I am here to talk about the Titan Towers set up here and in four other cities and what they mean for them. As of right now the crime rates involving superpowered beings is at the highest it's even been. Even the Justice League and their associates, The Team, are hard pressed to keep up with them. These Titans will be the next step in protecting the citizens and their homes from those that would with them harm. I understand that many of you are concerned about leaving your safety in the hands of teenagers but with the success of those that were once sidekicks to members of the Justice League during the invasions by the Reach and Darkseid I have no illusions that given half the chance others can rise to that same level of success. And let's face it, teenagers will do what they want and wouldn't you rather they did so under the watch of those you put your faith in day after day rather than on their own."

A murmur of approval spread through the crowd and even the Titans couldn't find fault in his words, whether they liked it or not. Lex continued with his speech.

"Should the Titans succeed I can see every city in America having its own personnel team of superheroes, perhaps even every city in the world. I for one would love to see a world without crime and as long as fate allows it I shall help lead this world towards that goal." A cheer rose up from the crowd so loud it was almost deafening to the Titans even at this distance.

"You think I can spit on him from this range?" Dragon asked.

"Probably, though with your fire breath you may end up setting him ablaze," Hack said.

"And wouldn't that be a terrible thing," Artillery said loaded with sarcasm.

Hadari chuckled. "Alright guys, enough of that and let's keep watch. His speech can't go on for much longer… hopefully."

"Hang on," Hack said urgently. "We got incoming."

"Where?" Hadari inquired.

"Sixty-two miles above us," he told him. "Something just entered Earth's lower thermosphere and is on a collision course… right where the crowd is," he added.

"Figures. How long have we got?"

"At its current speed, less than six minutes."

"Right everyone we got a job to do. Dragon, Blue, Satana and Artillery get the civilians out of here. Hack, get into all forms of transmissions in a three-block radius and give an evacuation order, just in case. I'm going to order Luthor to vamoose." Hadari called the winds around him to action and flew down to the stage. The bodyguards went to draw their guns, but Lex raised his hand to stop them.

"Hadari of the Titans I assume," said Luthor with that same infuriating grin on his face. "What can I do for you?"

"I need you and everyone to get out of here as fast as possible," he told him. "Something's coming and its coming in fast."

The crowd watched on, unsure of what to do at first but the appearance of costumed teens shouting at them to leave they did as they were told.

"Very well," Luthor said. "I shall leave it to you and your team, whatever it is," he turned to one of his bodyguards, "Let's do as the young man says." And with that Luthor and his cronies quickly left the stage and got into a sedan, driving off as fast as they could.

Hadari turned to see the crowd dispersing, but not quick enough. There were still too many people and time was running out.

"Satana, you can make portals, right?" He asked

"Gateways actually, but yes," she replied.

"No need to get pedantic," he said. "Get as many out as you can." She nodded, and several rectangular tears in reality the size of double doors materialized, leading to another part of the city and people filed through them. "Hack, how long to we have left?"

"Two minutes," he told him, flying towards the stage. "It's accelerating faster than I thought. Look!" He pointed to the north. A small shining dot in the distance stood out even in the middle of the day.

"Ok, I'm going to blast it then. Hopefully I can take it out before it hits."

"Wait," Hack warned. "I'm detecting a lifeform up there. Someone is in that thing."

"Someone's trying to land that thing here?"

"No, I can't pick up any higher brain activity. Whoever it up there is unconscious… or worse."

Damn it, that made things complicated, but he wasn't about to kill someone, even if it was the best solution. There was always another way. "Hack, keep an eye on things down here. I'm going to see if I can slow that thing down." Before Hack could ask what he was up to, Hadari called upon the winds once more and took to the skies, aiming himself at the object, growing ever closer.

He wasn't sure he could stop it in time to rescue whoever was in there, and he almost prayed to his father for help. But after his last "talk" with him he doubted he would heed his prays. Besides, Zeus would only ask for repayment and the thought of reimbursing him left a sickening taste in his mouth. He just hoped he had the strength for this.

He shot towards to object with a speed only matched by that of the gods of the winds. As he got within a hundred feet of it he could make out what it was. It was a silver sphere about five or six feet in diameter with a single circular window. But with the heat of reentry surrounding it, it was impossible to see inside. Calling upon his powers, he wrapped the sphere in a cocoon of wind, simultaneously slowing its descent and cooling it down. Even so it was still coming in hard and fast. He concentrated even harder and the winds formed an almost solid barrier around the object, slowing it almost to a crawl. Seconds passed like minutes, but he had it under control. After what seemed like an eternity he lowered the object to the ground, exhausted, but feeling elated at what he had done.

The other Titans gathered around him. Looking around he saw that the streets were empty. The team had managed to get the all citizens to safety.

"Whoa dude, that was incredible," Blue said, holding out his ring. Blue light washed over him and Hadari felt all the pain and fatigue vanish.

"Didn't know you were that powerful," Artillery said.

"Well, what can I say, I'm just full of surprises," he told them. "To be honest with someone's life on the I think it was mostly adrenaline."

"Who's life?" Dragon asked.

"Whoever's in the pod," Hack told her. He quickly told them all about the lifeform he discovered inside the object.

All their eyes turned towards the pod that now sat in the middle of the intersection. It was covered in scratches and burn marks, especially near the bottom. The single window that Hadari saw earlier was also part of a door. There was alien writing on the door from what looked like several different languages.

"Any idea what they say, Blue?" Hadari asked him.

"No, and that's really weird. My ring is supposed to translate all languages belonging to spacefaring races."

"Well, we can't worry about that right now. There's someone in there that needs our help. Hack get it open and Blue heal up whoever's in there."

They both nodded and walked up to the pod. Hack placed his hand on the pod and with a thought, the door opened with a loud hiss and clanged to the floor, reveling its occupant.

Inside was a humanoid girl with pale skin. She looked almost Asian by human standards and had a mane of shaggy black hair that reached down to just past her shoulders. She looked like she was in her mid-teens when compared to humans and was just under five and half foot tall with a slender build. She wore a simple, loose fitting, purple sleeveless dress like garment that came down to just above her knees with a fur belt round her waist and a pair of leather shoes. There were cuts and bruises all over her arms and head and there looked to be dents inside the pod itself. It was as though it impacted something, and she had bounced around inside it. She was unconscious and her breathing shallow.

"Hey, who ever said hot babes never fell from the sky," Blue commented.

"Just hurry up and heal her," Hadari told Blue. "Hack, see what you can find from the pod." They nodded, and Blue held his ring in front of the girl bathing her in a soft blue light. Meanwhile, Hack aimed his hand at the computer systems, downloading the data within them to his armour. "Everyone else secure the perimeter." They all nodded and got to work.

Before she left, Satana approached Hadari. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, just a little tired. Guess Blue can't heal mystical fatigue as much as the normal kind."

"You didn't ask your father for help, didn't you?" she asked sternly and crossed her arms.

"No, though I thought about it for a second. But I knew it would have been a bad idea." he assured her. "Honest."

"That's good, though if you wanted help you should have asked me. And I wouldn't have asked for anything in return," she left with a smile and he couldn't help but stare at her leave.

 _Gods damn it,_ he thought with a shake of his head. _I'm too much like my dad, damn this curse._ His thoughts were interrupted by a sound behind him.

"Gak."

He quickly turned around to see the young girl from the pod with her hands clamped round the throats of Blue Lantern and Hack. They flailed but to no avail, the girl was far stronger than either of them.

"She's hostile!" Hadari yelled and him and the other three Titans leapt to help their friends.

But the girl's reaction was faster than they were. She threw Blue at Hadari and Hack at Dragon. The Titans collided with each other and fell to the floor in a tangle of limbs. Satana readied a spell and Artillery reached for something in one of her trench coats pockets. Again, the alien girl was quicker, and she raised both her hands. They became engulfed in purple light and twin beams of energy shot out at them. Both girls leapt out of the way but were thrown back by the shockwave of the blasts as they hit the ground once occupied by them and landed on the tarmac with grunts.

The six teens picked themselves up and faced the alien girl. "This is what I get for helping the good-looking ones," Blue complained. "Choked out and thrown like a ragdoll."

"Now's not the time Blue," Hadari scolded. "We got a super strong, energy blasting alien girl on our hands."

The alien girl yelled at them in an alien language.

"What did she say, Blue?"

"No idea. Stupid ring says she must be from a race that hasn't explored space yet."

"Tell your ring it needs an update," Dragon shouted.

The girl raised her fists and took a combative stance. Her gaze rapidly darting back and forth between the six.

"Get ready everyone," Hadari said. "Looks like we might have a fight on our hands."

 **End of chapter 01**


	3. The Savage Girl

**Chapter 02**

 **The Savage Girl**

 **Author's notes**

 **Forgot to add a bunch of disclaimers to the prologue, changed this for those that wish to know them. And sorry for the delay with this one, my new medication has a side effect that causes depression, making it hard to work on anything.**

 **Also, I made a mistake in the last chapter saying the alien girl looked Caucasian. It was meant to be Asian, weird how I missed it. This has been corrected.**

* * *

 **Metropolis**

 **August 14** **th**

 **12:59 pm**

The Titans and the alien girl stood twenty-feet apart, sizing each other up. But neither side had made a move against the other yet. After a few moments the girl turned away from them, looking at her surroundings. Confused and frightened, she started moving rapidly in a circle, as though she was trying to figure out where she was.

"Ok, maybe she's not hostile," Hadari said.

"Could've fooled me," Blue said, rubbing his throat.

"No, I think he's right," Hack interjected. "Think about it. She woke up on another world with two strangers pointing things in her face. How would you react?"

"I wouldn't choke someone, that's for sure!" Blue shouted.

The girl stopped circling and glared at them, growling at them like an animal. She crouched down low with her arms and legs tense, as though she was going to pounce.

"That's right Blue, antagonise the alien. That's exactly what we need right now," said Artillery not even bothering to hide her sarcasm.

A few moments passed but the girl just stayed motionless in her stance. It was like she was waiting for them to make the first move. And that would hopefully work in their favour.

"I'm going to try something, cover me but don't make a move unless she does," Hadari told the team. Before they could object he placed his staff and helmet and the ground and slowly stepped towards the girl with his arms held low and wide to give a non-threatening presence. It seemed to work, her expression changed from angry to curious and her body became less tense. She stayed in the crouched position though and resting her hands on the ground. The way she crouched reminded him of the way primitive people are sometimes shown in movies or TV shows, and now that he was closer, he could see that her dress was made of thin, purple fur. Perhaps she was from an undeveloped world and stumbled on this pod by accident. But that didn't matter for now, his main concern was keeping her calm.

She still hadn't budged from her spot by the time he was in arm's length of her and was still staring at him, cautiously and curiously. He crouched down methodically, till he was eye to eye with her. She had large, round onyx coloured that seemed to shine and sparkle in the light. They were beautiful and almost mesmerising to look at.

"Hey there," Hadari said in a soft tone. "How are you?" He knew that she wouldn't understand him, but hoped his tone kept her calm.

She said something he couldn't understand. She then reached out and poked his chest, as though she wasn't sure what he was.

"My name is Hadari," he told her gesturing to himself.

"Hadry," she said poking him again.

"Close enough," he chuckled. She was a quick learner, another point in his favour. "What's your name?" she didn't seem to understand and cocked her head to the side. "Hadry," he said tapping his hand on his chest then held it out towards her. It took another two times for her to get it.

"Seriko," she said tapping her chest.

"Nice to meet you Seriko. I have some friends I'd like you to meet," he motioned the others to come over. It was a risk, but she seemed to understand that he wasn't a threat, so he hoped she would think the same about them.

They all looked at each other apprehensively. They really didn't want to set her off if they could help it.

"Well, you only live once," Dragon said, taking the initiative and making her way slowly over to Hadari and the girl. The others followed suit.

"I have a bad feeling around my throat about this," Blue commented, holding his hand around his neck.

"I'd say man up, but given your attitude I'll say chicken up instead," Satana quipped.

The girl watched them approach, though this time there was no hint of aggression in her, though she did seem a little nervous. Once they were all in place, Hadari stood and introduced them all.

"Everyone, this is Seriko. Seriko this is Dragon, Hack, Satana, Blue and Artillery," he said, gesturing to each of them in turn.

They all said hello to her. It was an awkward situation as only a few minutes she had attacked them. And now that she was in throat punching range she seemed peaceful looking up at them.

"Degen, Hic, Anya, Blub, Tilly," she said pointing to each of them.

"Incredible," Hack said excitedly, getting really close to her. This made the others anxious, they didn't want to set her off again. But Seriko seemed to be just as intrigued by him as he was her. "We have made first contact with an alien species. And she's intelligent."

"She doesn't seem that smart to me" Dragon said.

"She gleaned that Hadari wasn't a threat pretty quickly. And she understood him somewhat and got our names mostly right, how many people on this planet can you say are able to do the same in this short space of time."

"I'm not sure how I feel about being called Blub, though," Blue commented.

"I think it suits you," Artillery said, digging her elbow into his ribs.

"I kind of like Anya," said Satana. She looked to Seriko, who was looking at her with awe. Satana took a step to the side and the alien girl's gaze followed her. "Why is she looking at me like that?"

"Looks like someone's got an admirer," Hadari commented. "Can't say I blame her, with a body like yours," he said under his breath. He really hoped she hadn't heard that. _I really hate you, dad,_ he thought to himself.

Satana shrugged. "As long as she doesn't touch me she can look all she wants."

"Now that's not very nice," Artillery taunted with a smile. "I'm sure she isn't crawling with parasites."

"Or diseases," Blue added.

"Ok, that's enough," Dragon scolded them. "Don't make fun of someone when they can't understand you." She moved next to Seriko and without thinking she gave the alien girl a pat on the head. She almost regretted treating her like an animal but Seriko smiled widely and looked happy. So much so that her fur belt came away and started wagging.

"Is that a tail?" Satana asked. And It was. It was a monkey-like tail, about two and a half feet long and covered in brown fur.

"Yeah, and she seems happy," Dragon said petting her again. She felt awkward doing so but if it kept her calm then she was more than willing to keep it up.

After a few minutes Hack asked the most important question. "So, what do we do with her?"

The six heroes stood around the crouched alien, not really knowing what to do. They couldn't just leave her. Not only would it be the wrong thing to do, there would be no telling what damage she could cause if something set her off. And handing her over to the authorities was unfair to her, she did nothing wrong besides land on the planet. That left only one other option.

"I'm going to call the Justice League," Hadari told them. "They might be able to help her, maybe even get her home." He took out his communicator and called the League.

"While we wait I could use a language transference spell on her while we wait," Satana offered. "It might help us communicate with her."

"Hold off on that," Hadari told her with a tenseness to his voice. "Something is wrong with my communicator, I can't get through to the League. Hack can you see what you can do."

Hack activated his holographic wrist computer. "No good," he said after a moment. "Something is blocking all communication in and out of the area."

That was worrying. "Any idea on what's causing it?"

"Could be the pod Seriko was in, but without scanning it I won't know for sure."

"Scan away, everyone else get ready just in case," Hadari instructed.

Hack began to carefully analyse the pod. It wasn't complex in its programming but unsurprisingly it was all in an alien language, several to be precise. It was as though each part of the pod's systems were programmed by different species. Or maybe each component had been taken from other races and put into the pod. It all excited him and had he not had his helmet on the others would see the massive grin on his face. However, this excitement caused him to make a rookie mistake and his attention wandered for a nanosecond, causing him to trip some kind of security system. He jumped back at the last second, as the pod's door swiftly shut on him, locking him out of it.

"Darn it, stupid pod," Hack exclaimed. "I can't scan it while it's closed."

"Pod?" Seriko said. She turned and looked right at the pod. That's when things turned for the worse. Seriko let out a scream of pure rage and ran at the pod, knocking Hack aside as though he weighed nothing. She slammed her fists into the pod repeatedly, but it had no effect on the pod. Once she realised this, Seriko picked up the pod as a normal human would a football and threw it into a nearby building. She continued her rage and fired off blasts of energy into nearby cars.

"Subdue her!" Hadari yelled and the Titans sprang into action.

Dragon grabbed her from behind, lifting the smaller girl off the ground in a full nelson. "Come on, Seriko, calm the hell down." But she had returned to her savage state and was not listening and struggled harder, screaming while she did so. It was taking all of Dragon's strength just to hold her. "God damn, she's strong."

Seriko threw back her head, slamming it into Dragon's nose. She let out a small grunt of pain and instinctively let go of Seriko. This gave the smaller girl the chance to grab Dragon by her hair and slammed her face first into the road then kicked her into Hadari, sending them both flying. Hack fired a barrage of micro-missiles at her, the concussive blasts throwing her off her feet. She didn't stay down long though and with a powerful leap she rocketed towards Hack.

"Holy crap she can jump!" Hack yelled and tried to maneuverer out of the way, but she was too fast and all he could do was brace himself.

The two of them collided and they Came tumbling back down to earth. He tried to get up when she grabbed him by the leg and started hitting him off everything within range. His armour protected him from most of the assault, but it still hurt like hell. She then threw him into the sky. He would have impacted a building, had Blue Lantern not caught him in time.

"You ok?" he asked, lowering him to the ground.

"Do I freaking look ok," he retorted. "Oh, god damn it," he said meekly.

The girl ran at them at on all fours at blinding speed. Before either of them could respond she collided with Blue, fist first into his groin. His eyes popped out as his body erupted in pain and he was knocked away from Hack. He hit a truck with such force that he and it continued their trajectory for another twenty feet before it came to a halt.

"Are you ok?" Hadari asked, landing next to him and helping him up.

"Do I freaking look ok," he squeaked, imitating Hack's earlier response. He stood and they both looked over to Seriko.

She was surrounded by Artillery, Dragon and Hack, and she was looking more animalistic than before. Her teeth bared she was growling loudly at them.

"Get her," Artillery yelled.

Seriko let out a primal roar and a white flame-like aura materialised around her. She made a pushing motion, holding her arms straight on either side of her. The aura rushed away from her and forced the Titans back with a wall of kinetic force. They were all thrown off their feet and scattered around the street. Satana strode onto the battle field while the others were down and began casting a spell.

"Catenas ligant lucis hostem," she chanted, and her voice seemed to echo as she did. Chains made of red light materialised around Seriko and constricted her tightly. "I got her," she told her teammates. But she didn't know for how long. Making those gateways earlier had taken a lot out of her. "Someone, knock her out."

"On it," Dragon replied. She ran at her and aimed a punch at her head. But remembering how scared Seriko was finding herself in a strange place bought up old memories of her own, causing her punch to fall short.

Seriko let out another roar and omnidirectional wave of violet energy erupted from her, sending Dragon flying once again and breaking the magical chains that held her. The backlash of energy made Satana stagger and she fell back against a car, blood slowly leaking from her nose. Seriko then started screaming again, firing blasts of violet energy randomly into the street.

"That's enough!" Hadari yelled. He grabbed her from behind, wrapping his arms around her waist. He was nowhere near as strong as her or even Dragon. But he didn't need to be. Before she could break his grip, and possibly his neck, he conjured up electricity and sent it through his arms and into her. She howled and struggled but she couldn't escape his grip. It didn't matter how strong someone was, once electricity coursed through their nervous system it caused their muscles to contract, assuming her nerves worked the same as that of a human. "Ok, Seriko, please stop," he shouted over her howls. "I don't want to hurt anymore than I have to."

Her aura flared again and with a scream of rage she knocked Hadari off her. He flew towards a building and tried to call the winds to cushion the impact, but he was too disorientated to concentrate. Before he impacted he felt someone grab his hand and pull him off course.

"Need a lift," Hack said from above him.

"Thanks, buddy." Hack lowered him down and they both landed safely. But that was the only thing safe about their situation.

Seriko was still going berserk. She was beating the ground with her fists, each impact cracked the pavement, and screaming loudly. Artillery was down there too, far enough away that she was safe from Seriko's rampage but close enough that she could move in when she saw an opening. However, she wasn't as safe as she thought, and a large chunk of concrete struck her arm, sending her spinning backwards into a car. Hadari and Hack moved in to help but Blue was on the scene first, healing her wounds.

"What are we going to do," Dragon said, landing next to them. "I take it we are all on the same page about not wanting to hurt her."

"Yeah," said Satana said appearing out of nowhere, sweat was dripping down her face. The stress of all those earlier gateways and the backlash of her chain spell had taken a lot out of her.

"As long as she doesn't punch me in the junk again," Blue added.

"I'm all for hurting her a little," Artillery told them. "Better than her hurting us."

"No," Hadari told her. "It's not her fault and we need to do what we can to help her."

"So, what do we do then, Leader?" Artillery asked him.

In truth he didn't know. He had never faced an opponent he didn't want to fight before. He had fought monsters and criminals alike but never faced someone he truly didn't want to hurt. Looking over to Seriko, who had moved on from beating the road to now focusing on nearby cars, he noticed that while she was still berserk she was also slower than before and panting heavily.

"It looks like she's tiring and that gives me an idea," he told the others. "Satana, do you have a spell that can put her to sleep."

"Yeah," she panted. "But I have to touch her to use it. And I'll need time to regain my strength to use it."

"How long do you need?"

"Five minutes. And seeing as how badly she was throwing us all around, well… I'm sure you can handle it."

"You heard her, we need to buy Satana time. Artillery, Dragon, keep her attention on you two, try not to get too close though. Hack, you and I will intercept her energy blasts, we'll try and stop her from doing any more damage to the city. Blue, you're on support, keep us healed if she does manage to land a hit." Everyone nodded. "Ok, Titans Go."

 **-0000-**

High above the streets, Zaniel and a squad of two dozen soldiers watched over the battle that unfurled below. The alien girl was putting up a good fight against the teen heroes, but it was obvious that they were wearing her down. In a one on one fight she could have easily taken any of them. But as a team, even as beat up as they were, they would undoubtedly win.

But what irritated him the most was how they could have won by now. They appeared to have formed a bond to the savage and were reluctant to hurt her. Things like this sickened him to his stomach. Still it was a good brawl so far and there was always a chance that she would kill one of them in her rage. The thought of her brutally tearing one of those goody two shoes apart sent shivers of pleasure down his spine.

"Shall we take the targets now, sir?" one of the soldiers asked.

"No, not yet," Zaniel said smiling. "I want to see how it ends."

"But, sir what if…" he didn't get any further as a tendril of darkness whipped out from under Zaniel's coat, decapitating the soldier in the blink of an eye. The soldiers all flinched but didn't make a move against him, they valued their lives far more than they had respect for their fallen comrade.

"Oh damnit," he said, without a hint of guilt. "That was your captain wasn't it. Oh well, whoever was his number two is in charge of you morons now. Now If the rest of you all don't mind, I'd like to watch the show. Oh, and I suppose you should send someone to retrieve that pod," he turned his gaze back to the battle below and chuckled. "If only I had some popcorn."

 **-00000-**

The Titan's were beaten and exhausted, but they had yet to give up yet. The same could be said about the alien girl, who was the only one still on her feet. All the others were on the ground, though they were slowly getting back up.

"She keeps hitting me in the junk," Blue said in a strained voice. "Why? Why does she keep hitting me in the junk?"

"Maybe you should…" Dragon started to say.

"If you say fight harder, I swear to Hadari's dad I'll hit you in the junk," he interrupted.

"Enough you two," Hadari snapped. "We have enough trouble without fighting amongst ourselves. Where's Hack and Artillery?" he asked looking around for them.

"Here," Hack said peeling himself out of the remains of a bus. "I'm good, just a few bruises," he staggered a bit as he joined his friends, he possibly had a concussion, but he didn't say anything.

"What about Artillery?" he asked, not seeing her.

"Over here," She said over the communicator. She waved her hand above the remains of a wrecked car on the other side of the intersection, behind Seriko. "Ready to move when you are."

"Good, but only move when I say so," Hadari said. He then turned to Satana, who had held back by his orders. "Are you strong enough to cast that spell yet."

"Yes, I just need to get close enough to use it," she told him. "If someone can hold her down for a few seconds."

"We'll do it, just be ready," he promised, though keeping that promise might be easier said than done.

It had been a tough battle so far and the damage to the area was extensive. They had tried their best to minimise the damage but in her berserk state it had been next to impossible to do that. Craters littered the intersection and almost every car that had been abandoned were now smoking wrecks. Even the Titans had not come out of this well. Their clothes were torn and damaged and stained with their own blood. Thankfully Blue's healing powers kept them relatively healthy, otherwise they would have been out of commission by now.

But the girl was in far worse shape than they were. Blood dripped from over a dozen wounds, some of them large, her arms hung lifelessly at her sides and her breathing was laboured. They had tried to just keep her occupied, but they had been forced to take a more aggressive approach against her when she tried to run into the city. Hadari hadn't liked it but given the alternative he had no other choice. But the harder they fought her, the harder she fought back, and she had shown no sign of backing down. Until she suddenly stopped.

"Uh… what's she doing?" Blue asked.

She was stood about from about thirty feet away from them, but even from this distance Hack could see the expression on her face, one of the benefits of having a high-tech suit of armour. It was one full of fear and anguish. And her eyes had a far away look about them, like she was daydreaming, or more likely having a waking nightmare. Whatever that pod stirred up in her head was not pleasant.

"Hadari, I think you should know something," Hack said, relaying what he discovered. "I think whatever memories or feelings that pod dragged up have passed from the anger stage to the depression. Which is why she's not using us as walking talking punching bags."

"Like the five stages of grief?" Dragon asked him.

"Similar yes, though in this case she's gone from anger, to depression and if things go well she'll calm down and be like she was before."

"As long as something doesn't set her off," Satana added.

"Well the pod is sixteen stories up in that building behind us so as long as it stays put we should be good."

As if the gods were against them, and in Hadari's case at least one was, the pod crashed down to earth with a loud crash. All eyes turned to the pod then to where it fell from. While it was hard to make them out there were two figures peaking out of the hole the pod fell through. They ducked back inside as soon as they realised they had been seen.

Seriko's rage returned and her hands began to glow once again in violet light. She raised her arms, aimed them at the pod and unleashed a powerful blast of energy, and unfortunately the Titans were in the way.

"Oh, bloody hell," Hack exclaimed.

That had no time to dodge. Thankfully Blue's ring worked as fast as he could think, and it formed a large dome barrier around them. The beam slammed into the shield with great force. But the shield stood strong, the beam splitting and sending arcs that flowed over the shield. But the strain of keeping the shield up was already taking its toll on Blue Lantern and sweat poured down his face. His teeth with clenched so hard that it was a miracle that hadn't shattered under the force. They could not stay here.

"Satana, I don't suppose you can open a gateway?" Hadari asked.

"No," she said solemnly. "I have just enough strength left for that sleeping spell and maybe one other minor spell, and that's it."

"Well somebody better come up with something soon," Blue said tensely. "It feels like I'm about to crap out my spine."

Satana sighed. "If you can hold it for another minute or two I may be able to open one. But I'll only be able to do it for a few seconds and I won't be able to get through as well."

"That's not an option," Hadari told her sternly. "We're a team and we do not leave anyone behind."

"Then we just have to hope she runs out of energy before Blue does," said Satana pessimistically.

"I hate waiting around to die," Dragon grumbled.

"We all do," Hack said.

"Then it's a good thing I'm out here to save your asses," Artillery told them over the communicator.

"Artillery, don't," Hadari told her. "If she turns that beam on you your done for."

"Sorry, KXKXKXKXSH, can't hear you, KXKXKXKXSH, about to do something awesome KXKXKXKXSH."

"Your making those sounds yourself!" he yelled at her. There was no response. "Artillery… Artillery," still nothing. "Zeus damn it," he exclaimed. Thunder rolled above him. "You stay out of this," he yelled at the sky. He turned his attention back to the violet energy that was engulfing one side of the shield, so he couldn't even see Artillery. "I hope she'll be ok."

 **-00000-**

Artillery darted from cover to cover closing in on Seriko slowly but surely. She needed to get to her and and save her friends, but she couldn't risk being seen. Hadari was right about the beam. As awesome as she was, that beam of energy would put more than a hole in her suit if it hit her.

"Slow and steady, Art," she said to herself. Once she was within ten feet of her she was ready to make her move. The problem was she wasn't sure what her move was. She doubted she could really hurt the alien, save for maybe her sword and that was a big maybe. But as quickly as she thought of that she pushed it aside. As strange as it was, they had all bonded with her in those short few moments with her, before she went nuts, and she was unwilling to use her sword on her. Besides, whatever she had gone through to elicit that kind of reaction from just seeing that pod was punishment enough. That left only one option she could think of.

She slowly crept behind Seriko, making sure to be as quiet as possible, though with her focus solely on her teammates she needn't have worried. Once she got within range she lunged for the girl's tail. Her plan was to drag her backwards to throw the girl off balance and hopefully angle her arms away from her friends, giving them a chance to escape. However, things didn't go to plan. As soon as she got a tight grip on the tail, she stopped her attack completely and froze up. She fell to her hands and knees and howled in pain. Artillery almost let go out of sympathy but kept her grip tight, though not too tight.

"Hey, guys, I got her."

Blue dropped his shield and he and the other Titans joined her, though cautiously. After what they had been through they couldn't take any chances. But once they had her encircled they saw that any fears they had were all for not. She was completely paralyzed with pain.

"Her tail is her weakness?" Blue asked incredulously.

"Yeah, I'm trying not to hurt her but it's super sensitive." Artillery told him.

"Don't worry, you won't have to for much longer," Hadari told her. "Satana, can you put her to sleep?"

Satana moved to cast her spell but stopped when she heard crying

"No… hurt," Seriko sobbed weakly. "Please, no… hurt."

"She speaks English?" Dragon asked.

"See, I told you she was intelligent," Hack told her. "She's learning just by listening to us. Fascinating."

Seriko didn't find it fascinating and cried louder, tears rolled down her face. Her body, even racked with pain, was trying to contort into a foetal position. "No hurt… I be good." She wept again.

Artillery, overcome with guilt, let go of the tail.

"Artillery no!" Hadari yelled, but too late. Not crippled by pain anymore, Seriko moved faster than any of them could react and lunged for Satana, gabbing her by her legs and then buried her face in her skirt and began crying loudly.

Nobody moved. They just let the girl cry into Satana's skirt, much to the sorceress's annoyance.

Satana rolled her eyes, then gave Seriko a reassuring pat on the head. The alien girl looked up at her with big puppy dog eyes. "There, there," Satana said awkwardly.

"Anya nice, Anya strong," she said to her, then hugged her legs tighter.

"Ok, time for you to go to sleep now," She placed her hands on either side of her head, looked into her eyes and said, "Somnus." The girl's eyes grew heavy and within seconds she collapsed to the ground, fast asleep and snoring loudly.

"Well that was a shitstorm," Dragon said, looking around at the rubble that was once a busy Metropolis intersection. "But at least we're all ok."

"Speak for yourself," Blue told her. "I'm going to need another nine rings to fix the damage this chick did to my junk."

"It's not like you'd have gotten much use out of them anyway," Satana said in a deadpanned tone.

"Hey, any girl would love me. You know, if I could actually talk to them," he replied.

"Too bad they don't want to talk to you," Hack chimed in while he was working on his wrist computer. "On another bad note all the transmissions are still being blocked." Hadari wasn't listening, instead he retrieved his staff and helmet and looked like he was getting ready for another fight. "Hadari?"

"I don't think we out of the woods yet," he said tensely. "Do you hear that?"

They all listened for a moment. "I don't hear anything," Hack said.

"Exactly, no wind, no sounds of traffic, no emergency services. Nothing. Worse still, this is Metropolis, Superman's home turf. He has super hearing and as far as I'm aware he should still be in the city. So, where is he?" The others started to worry and formed a circle around the sleeping Seriko. "And then there were the two guys that dropped the pod out of the building, who were they? Something's going on and I don't like it." He pushed the button on his staff to extend his spear tip. With all his strength he threw it at the sky.

It sailed passed the tops of the buildings and just when it looked like it would disappear into the sky when it simply bounced off thin air. Waves rippled across the sky as they would a body of water.

"What the heck," Artillery said aghast.

Hadari looked around, searching for something. His gaze fell on an alleyway, where a silhouette stood out in the darkness. "All right, come on out, whoever you are," Hadari commanded, raising his hand and calling his staff back to him.

The sounds of slow clapping echoed from the alley. The whole team tensed up, preparing for another fight. The silhouette stepped out, revealing itself to be a middle-aged man with dark hair, wearing a black trench coat and dark sunglasses. He had a grin plastered on his face that read evil.

"Well done," he said. "May I ask how you figured it out?"

"Apart from the fact that Superman isn't here yet. The air felt different," he said. "I didn't notice it till just now, what with being preoccupied and all."

"I see, I should have anticipated that," the man said, chuckling. "I guess being the son of a sky god has its perks."

"Enough!" Hadari snapped at him. "Who are you can what do you want?"

Before the man answered, he clapped his hands. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, two dozen men dressed head to toe in black combat armour, armed with assault rifles materialized and surrounded them. "Well to your first question, I don't think that's any of your concern. As to the second one, well I am here for the girl and her space pod."

"You are not taking Seriko," Dragon told him.

"How cute you named it," he taunted. "But, do you really think you can stop us," he motioned to the men. "Not all of you are bullet proof, and my men are expendable. Can you say the same about yours?"

He was right, and the team wasn't not in the best condition right now. Satana was out of magic and Blue could keep them healed but he couldn't do much for fatigue. And Hadari wasn't about to sacrifice his friends. But he didn't want to hand over Seriko either, it just wasn't right. He turned to his friends and saw that the look of determination on their faces. They weren't going to give her up without a fight. So, neither was he.

"Sorry freak, but if you want her then your going to have a fight on your hands," Hadari stated, levelling his staff at the man.

The man sighed. A black tendril sped past them at such speed that they didn't even see it until it had stopped. They followed its path behind and were shocked by what they saw. The tendril had pierced Seriko's back, right around where her heart would be. The tendril retracted from her and whipped back towards the man, disappearing beneath his coat.

"Oh, sorry about that," he said deadpanned. "I think I broke your pet."

"You motherfu…" Dragon started to yell when six more tendrils whipped out from the man's coat, stopping mere millimetres from all their throats, cutting her off and stopping the heroes in their tracks.

The man gave them a sinister grin. "Ok kiddies, you're all getting a timeout. I had only come for the girl and the pod, but I don't think the boss will mind me bringing her a few more toys for her to play with." He snapped his fingers and several of his men stepped towards the team, with inhibitor collars in hand. "Collar all of them except the blue-tard, he needs to heal the monkey before she expires."

Blue took this as a hint that he was free to move and knelt next to Seriko, glaring at the man as he did. The wound was the size of a baseball and there was blood everywhere, but somehow, she was still alive. He aimed his ring at her, bathing her in blue light and the wound began to close. While he healed her the rest of the team was being collared. He hated following this freak's orders but doing as he was told meant that his friends would be (relatively) safe and Seriko wouldn't die. While he was healing, one of the men came over and collared Seriko. Once he was done, he stood and addressed the man in black.

"All targets collared, commander Zaniel, save for the blue o…" he didn't get to finish as another tendril whipped out from his coat and wrapped around his throat. He struggled and tore at the tendril, but he wasn't strong enough to break its grip.

"God, you meat bags are so stupid," he said with anger in his voice. "How many of you do I have to kill before you the rest of you learn. Don't question me and don't reveal my name in public." There was a sickening snap and the man stopped flailing. The tendril released him, dropping his corpse to the ground.

"You're a sick freak," Artillery yelled at him.

"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but I will slice you up," his tendril caressed her cheek, visibly repulsing her. "Or maybe I'll just keep you. I'm sure I can have some fun with you."

Artillery wanted to throw up, but she stood her ground and glared daggers at him.

"Ok, blue-tard," Zaniel barked. "Pick up the monkey and come here. The rest of you too."

Blue picked her up, she was surprisingly light, weighing pretty much nothing. He and the team then gathered round Zaniel, the men still training their weapons on them as they did. One guy dragged the corpse of man Zaniel killed while another two were holding a severed head and its body.

Zaniel took a sphere the size of an orange out of his pocket. "Hold onto your assholes kiddies, the first trip a doozy," he cackled. He pressed a button and the world seemed warp and twist. There was a loud crack and a flash of light and then they were all gone.

 **-00000-**

Superman had heard the commotion from half the country away. But he didn't react to it immediately. He had wanted to give the new guys a chance to prove themselves. Besides, he was busy dealing with a b-list villain who had some sort of danger sensing auto-teleport power and it had taken him a while to pin him down. But a few moments ago, the sounds of the battle were suddenly cut off. He concentrated his hearing towards to city and, from the police radios, he learned that a large silver dome had encompassed the area that the Titans had been fighting in. Worried about the new heroes, he flew towards Metropolis as fast as Earth's atmosphere would allow.

He made it back to Metropolis in two minutes flat and could see the dome from several blocks away. He was almost upon it when something latched onto his back. Had he been travelling slower than the speed of sound he might have heard it coming. He stopped, then reached around, gabbing a limb of whatever had gripped his back and pulled it off and threw it onto a nearby roof top.

As it sailed through the air he got a good look at his attacker. It was a silver humanoid robot that was about six-foot-tall and a slim build. A large red fin adored its head and a single red made up most of its head. There was nothing else that really stood out about it, but he didn't let his guard down. He tried to use his x-ray vision on it, but he could only penetrate the first layer. Beneath its metallic skin there was another layer that stopped his power, possibly lead.

"I don't know who or what you are, but this is a fight you do not want," He said to his attacker.

"Target acquired," the machine said in a high pitched synthesized voice. "Sending coordinates."

Before Superman could even blink, a dozen loud and familiar booms echoed around him. He spun around just in time to see boom tubes open around him. Out of each one, ten more of those robots emerged.

"It can't be?" Superman said aghast. Before he could do anything more than that, one of the machines opened its chest compartment and a familiar green glow shone from it. "Kryptonite," he said weakly and fell from the sky, overcome by the radiation.

The androids grabbed him and pulled him through one of the boom tubes and they all snapped shut, leaving Metropolis behind, none the wiser as to what happened.

 **End of Chapter 2**

 **After notes**

Spells used by Satana

Catenas ligant lucis hostem – Chains of light bind my foe

Somnus – Sleep


	4. Captured

**Chapter 03**

 **Captured**

 **Authors Notes**

 **I'm going to be doing a Q and A on my profile for this story to answer any questions people have about the story. I won't be giving any spoilers but feel free to ask anything. 2 questions have ben answered already.**

 **Sorry for the delay for this chapter, the chronic chest pains that I've had for a while now have made it hard to work on this and my medicine is doing nothing for it except make me sluggish. So, sorry if it's a little shorter than expected or feels rushed.**

 **Unknown Location**

 **5:00 pm**

Amanda Waller sat behind her desk, seething with rage at Zaniel Templar, who stood in front of her, hands behind his back and a smug and arrogant grin on his face. A large cooler sat by his side on the floor. He had just completed this mission, but it had not gone as planned.

"Do you know what you have done?" she asked, barely containing her anger.

"I did what you asked," Zaniel said, feigning ignorance. "I bought you the alien and her pod."

Waller gritted her teeth. "You also bought six high profile teen heroes who have ties to the Justice League. Do you not think they'll come looking for them?"

Zaniel shrugged. "I figured you could use them to start up the Beta Series, since half your Alpha Series ended in such tragic failure. And you can always wipe their minds and I can pop them back once you're done."

Waller slammed her hands on her desk. "That's not the point!" she screamed at him. "What if the League come knocking down our door in the meantime? All I have planned, all I have worked for, will be for god damn nothing!"

She was breathing heavily. It had been a long time since she last let her anger get the better of her. Taking several deep breaths, she calmed herself down. This was not a good situation. She knew first hand the tenacity of the Justice League and they would not rest till they found their missing allies. And with Batman, the world's greatest detective, and the magical prowess of Doctor Fate they had hours at best before this place was discovered. Still, despite his sociopathic nature, Zaniel was right. This was the opportunity she needed to start up the Beta Series.

Her gaze fell on the cooler at Zaniel's feet. "I take it that you have already taken the samples?"

"Indeed, I have," he replied, picking up the cooler. "Blood, saliva, spinal fluid, full body scans of them and all their stuff. The works."

"And are they securely contained?"

"Yep, all of them are in the holding cell. I had to put the alien in with them so the blue one could use his ring to fix her up, she kind of had a hole in her."

Waller raised an eyebrow at him. "You left them with their weapons?"

"No, just the blue one, the cells are strong enough to hold a Green Lantern, so they should easily hold him. Oh, and the little guy's armour vanished the moment we ported in. I dunno what happened to it but took the necessary precautions, just in case."

Waller sighed. It wasn't ideal, then again nothing about this situation was, but it would have to do.

"Fine, take the samples to Doctor Helfern and prepare to evacuate to site two. When the League finds this place, I want them to find it empty. I don't even want a hair left behind"

"And the kids?"

"Leave them for the League to find," she told him. "And the alien too."

"After all the trouble of getting her?" Zaniel asked curiously. "That dome thingy was expensive and one use only, or so the nerds upstairs told me. And we lost two meat bags."

"We have her scans, samples and pod to work with, and you said yourself that those brats befriended her. If we take her with us that could lead them to try and hunt for her and I know how persistent these young heroes can be. They won't rest till they find her. I cannot let this operation be discovered until we are ready, even at the cost of losing a valuable asset. If they keep her they might be less inclined to hunt for us. As for the "meat bags", I believe you are the one that killed them."

Zaniel shrugged. "Can't I just have the blond one to play with? What was her name? Artillery. I'd love to hear her scream."

"Are you even listening," she said, raising her voice. "You do anything to them and the others will come after us. Now do as you are told. Get those samples down to Doctor Helfern and prepare for evacuation!"

"As you command," he said, picking up the cooler and leaving the room.

While there was no change in his expression she could feel his disappointment and anger at being denied his fun. Zaniel was one of the most twisted and warped individuals she had ever had the displeasure to have work for her and even with the control chip she had implanted in his head he always found loopholes in her commands, so he could indulge in his sick pleasures. But his abilities were powerful, and he always got the job done, which was the only reason he was still alive. She would have loved nothing more than to blow his head clean off. But she wasn't about to dispose of a useful tool, no matter how much she wanted to. It might cause her problems later but for now she had other things to worry about.

Waller pressed a button on her desk and a ringing tone echoed through the silent room. After a few moments a young woman with a pronounced North-eastern accent on the other end answered.

"Yo, what up Mrs W."

"We are evacuating shortly," she told the woman. "I need you to oversee the transport of Projects 5, 6, 7 and 10 to site two. Omen and Project 11 will assist you."

"Gotcha," she replied cheerfully. "What about the big sexy one with the red hair?"

Waller rolled her eyes. "Molotok, Zaniel and Project 12 will handle Project 0."

"Righto queeno, Harley out," the woman said, and the line went dead.

Waller began to wonder just how she managed to surround herself with so many psychopaths. Zaniel, Omen, Molotok and recently, the infamous Harley Quinn. She had no doubt in her mind that they would eventually turn on her and she would have to get rid of them, but for now they were useful tools.

And then there was those kids. Anyone else she'd have just killed them and disposed of the bodies. But killing heroes was risky business, especially those tied to the Justice League. It also tipped the balance in favour of criminals. Whenever a hero died it would inevitably lead to a rise in crime in that hero's city, causing more chaos and loss of life than usual. Criminal scum always looked for opportunity and there was no better one than a dead hero. Even if they were new, the fallout could have many possible repercussions.

But if she left them alive and they escaped before the evacuation was complete and learned of her involvement, no matter how unlikely it may seem, it could set her back months, or even lead to her imprisonment and eventual death that would be made to look like a suicide. There were dark things she knew that others would not like her to bring to light.

She could be damned either way or maybe nothing would happen, she wouldn't know until the events of today were over. With that in mind, Waller typed in a code into her computer. After a few moments a command box popped up on the screen.

 **Activate** **Queen's Gambit** **Protocol Yes/No**

She moved her mouse cursor over yes for a few seconds before clicking it.

 **Queen's Gambit** **Protocol Activated. Site One Set to Destruct on White Queen's Order**

She let out a sigh, it was not one of relief but one of acceptance. Things had been set into motion and no matter what she wouldn't be able to account for all the variables. But she would control the outcome of them, she would make sure of that. She grabbed everything that was of importance from her desk and deleting all files from her computer, before pressing a button that disintegrating the whole lot in front of her eyes. A handle little insurance policy if she did say so herself. Once done she made her way over to a section of the wall on the opposite side of her office. It slid away as she got close to it, revealing a small room with a golden circular pad and a keypad on top of a pedestal attached to it. She stepped onto it and typed in a code. The pad began to shine with a bright light and after a few seconds she vanished in a flash.

 **-00000-**

Hadari woke with the most painful migraine he had in his life. It felt like Superman himself was using his head like a bongo drum. The last thing he remembered was the asshole, Zaniel, pressing a button on that weird sphere and everything after that was a blank. He tried to stand, but his legs felt like they weighed a ton and there was a dull throbbing pain in his lower back. It took all his strength just to sit up and lean against the wall of wherever he was. Looking around he saw his teammates scattered around the room, all of them unconscious, save for Blue Lantern, who was sitting on a bed next to the limp body of Seriko. He tried to call out to him but as soon as he opened his mouth he felt like he was going to vomit.

"Hey, you're awake," Blue called over.

Hadari nodded his head but that was all he could do.

"Just hold on buddy, I'll heal you and the others as soon as I'm done with Seriko. Something in this cell is limiting my ring's power. All I can do is heal with it and it's not good at that either." He held his ring as close to the wound as he could without touching it. It had taken far longer than it should have but the wound on her back was healed. Thank god she was still asleep, otherwise this might not have gone as smoothly as it did. Once done he concentrated on his ring and a blue light filled the room, slowly healing everyone.

Hadari groaned as the feeling came back to his legs. "Gods damn, it feels like I've been run over by a truck."

"Yeah I felt like that too," Blue told him.

"Then why aren't you a zombie like the rest of us?"

"Some weird pale girl with bandages around her eyes woke me up as soon as we got here," he said solemnly. "She… did something to me."

"What did she do?" Hadari asked, delicately.

"I… I don't know. All I remember is her waking me up, then being in this cell. I can't remember anything in-between that. But I've had this cold, dark feeling since then and can't shake it. Like she's got her fingers digging into my brain."

Hadari wanted to say something reassuring but his mind was still muddled itself, though it was slowly getting better. Better enough to get a look at the situation he and the team were in. All of them, except Blue and Seriko, were dressed in orange prisoner jumpsuits and all their gear was gone. They were being held in a circular room about twenty feet from side to side with pale grey walls, no visible doors, several beds on one side of the room and a single toilet and sink out in the open, guess they didn't care about their prisoners' privacy. A single large light hung about twelve feet above them and around the same height was a single plain of glass that encircled the room. Was someone watching them? If so he could see them. As he thought this over, the others woke from their groggy states.

"Ok, who's the asshole who put me in a blender?" Artillery asked, unsteadily pushing herself to her feet

"Probably the same asshole that used my head as a punching bag," Dragon added, holding her head with both hands.

"Well as soon as I find them I'm going to slice their buttocks off and shove them down their throats. And where the hell is my sword?" she yelled.

"Probably with the rest of our stuff," Hadari told her.

"Any idea on how we got here?" Satana asked looking around the cell. "Last thing I remember was a bright light then we were here."

"It was a teleportation device," Hack told them. "A pretty crude one at that," he said with disgust. "That's probably why we passed out. Not all methods of teleportation are as smooth as zeta-beam. This one was probably a simple return to sender."

"You sound offended," Dragon pointed out.

"Of course, I am," he exclaimed. "I could build a better one in my sleep. It had sloppy amateur written all over it," he huffed.

"Well, while Hack criticizes that we didn't get the limousine of teleportation, anyone else got an idea on how we get out of here."

"Not yet," Hadari said solemnly. "There doesn't seem to be a door and these walls feel pretty sturdy," he hit his hand against the wall for emphasis. "And these stupid collars are stopping our powers, and I have to assume they are also stopping Satana's magic."

"No, I can still channel magic," she said though she didn't seem to happy about it. "But I can only draw a small amount at a time. At this rate it would take a few weeks for me to gather the power needed to bust us out of here."

"I can't call on my armour either," Hack told him. "There's a weird electromagnetic field keeping my nanites inert."

The team looked dejected and hope seemed to be lost. But their attention was soon taken away from their imprisonment by a certain someone. Seriko's eyes opened and she sat up, looking around the room in a state of confusion.

"Um, guys," Blue said getting everyone's attention. "Guess who's awake."

Nobody made any sudden moves. She may have had a power inhibitor on, but she could still be vicious and none of them wanted to be bitten or scratched or kicked in the junk. She looked at them and tilted her head to the side. It looked like she was calm now, and that was a relief. Right up until she realised she had a collar on.

Her hand crept up to her throat and upon realising what was around it, a cold terrified look came over her. She let out an ear piecing scream and tugged at the collar with both hands as hard as she could and rolled off the bed.

"Oh god, not again," Artillery grumbled.

"Stop her!" Hack yelled. "These collars are probably explosive!"

As soon as Hack had said explosive they all rushed over to stop her. None of them wanted to be splattered across the walls. Hadari and Dragon got there first, each grabbing an arm and pulling them away from the collar and pinning her to the floor. It was easier to restrain her this time round, with the collar supressing her powers she was no where near as strong as she was before. But she was still stronger than a normal Earth girl and it took all their strength to hold her.

"Come on now, we're here to help," Hadari said, struggling to hold her and feeling like a broken record. But she kept struggling and screaming, tears rolling down her face.

"Seriously, how strong is she?" Dragon asked.

"Given how much you two are struggling, I'd say she's about four or five times stronger than an earthling her size," Hack told them. "It must also be natural strength too, otherwise the collar would…"

"Stop nerding out and help us!" Dragon yelled at him.

Hack and Blue leapt on each leg. With no leverage she was completely pinned to the ground. "Ok, now what?" Blue asked

"I have an idea," Satana said. "Keep a hold her."

"What do you think I've been doing?" Dragon shot at the young sorceress.

Satana ignored her and knelt next to Seriko's head. She placed both her hands on the sides of her face and after a few seconds began to chant softly in a strange but familiar language. Seriko stopped her outburst and looked into Satana's eyes. The chanting continued, and a look of tranquillity came over the alien.

"Ok, you can let go now," Satana told her friends.

They all let go of her arms slowly. She didn't try and remove the collar, in fact she looked like she was falling asleep, bringing relief to the team.

"What spell was that?" Hadari asked.

"It was the language transference one I was going to use before she went psycho," Satana explained. "I didn't realise I'd learn hers as well though."

"So that was her language you were speaking?" Hack asked.

Satana nodded.

"What was with that chant though?" Dragon asked.

"I… I sung her a lullaby in," she said uncomfortably.

"Really?" Artillery chuckled.

"Shut up!" Satana snapped, blushing with embarrassment.

"So, she can understand us now?" Hadari inquired.

"Unless I did the spell wrong, then yes."

The Titans looked over to Seriko, who lay spread-eagled on the floor, eyes half closed and staring up at the ceiling. Her head turned to look at each of them when they stopped talking. She sat up and stretched as though she had woken up from a long sleep.

"Hello," Hadari said, taking the initiative.

"Hello Hadry," she said smiling. Her smile then turned to shock and she said, "You can talk like me!"

"Wow, it worked," said Blue in disbelief.

"You doubted me," Satana said raising an eyebrow.

"Maybe," he said cautiously.

"Yes, we can talk," Hadari said to Seriko. "Satana used a spell so we can talk with you."

"Who's Satana?" Seriko asked him. Hadari pointed to her. "Anya is Satana too?" she questioned.

"That's right," Hadari told her. "I have two names too. My other name is Jaden."

"Why do you have two names?"

"It's so we can be heroes while protecting our friends and family from people that want to hurt us."

"Family," Seriko said sadly.

"Do you have a family back home?" Hadari asked her.

"Don't know," she said leaping up on a bed. She pulled her up her legs and hugged them. "Don't know where home is." She stared at the floor, shutting out the rest of the world. "Only know name."

Hack had a sneaking suspicion and asked Seriko a more important question. "What is the last thing you remember?"

It took her a minute to respond, her faced went tense as though in deep thought. "Waking up with you and Blub…"

"Blue," Blue corrected.

"… in my face," she told them.

"Can you remember anything else at all?" Dragon asked her. "I mean you reacted pretty badly when you saw the pod and again when you touched the collar."

"Pain," she said miserably. "I feel these bought me pain." She tapped the collar. "No memories, just pain, helplessness, sadness." She started to cry. It was weird to see her this vulnerable after the way she threw them around not long ago.

Dragon sat beside her and put an arm around her to try and comfort the small alien. Seriko stopped crying, even moving closer into the hug, but sat there in silence and shut everything else out. Hack motioned for the others to follow him out of earshot of Seriko.

"What have you got, Hack?" asked Hadari.

"I think she' suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder," Hack told him. "And from the way she's acted I'd say it was from long term abuse. Very long term"

Dragon overheard this and clenched her fist in rage. She had been through her own abuse at the hands of the man who made her the way she was. She noticed Hadari looking at her and unclenched, refusing to make eye contact with him and went back to comforting Seriko.

"Does that explain the memory loss?" Hadari asked.

Hack nodded. "If she went through something very traumatic her mind could have shut those memories out to protect her. Subconsciously though, she will still recognise certain things that can be associated with whoever or whatever abused her as threats."

"Like her pod and the collar," Artillery chimed in.

"Yeah, though I have never heard of a case of PTSD this bad," said Hack. "Then again it isn't something I'm an expert in."

"I could try to heal it," Blue offered. "Though I'm not too sure how well my ring heals mental wounds."

Hack shook his head. "That's a bad idea."

"Why's that?"

"If her past was so traumatic that her mind blocked it off then by healing it you could inadvertently make her relive everything she had been through in that single moment. It could break her completely."

"Ok, don't heal her mind," Blue said. He was trying to make light of it, but his expression was one of helplessness.

Hadari placed a hand on Blue's shoulder. "Don't feel bad," he reassured him. "We'll find a way to help her," he turned to Seriko, "I promise we'll help you, no matter what." She smiled and wiped the tears from her face. "We just need to figure a way out of here."

"Maybe I can help," Blue said, his eyes fixed to the floor. But it wasn't his voice. It was female, and it felt icy and cold. His head rose up to meet their gaze. His eyes were pure white with blood running down them.

The team took a step back from him, save for Satana, who stood strong. "Whoever you are, and what have you done with Blue?" she demanded.

"My name is Omen," the woman said using Blue as a puppet. "The "weird pale girl" that woke this waste of space up when you all got here, and lucky I did, or he wouldn't have been awake to heal the animal over there," she said pointing to Seriko.

Seriko growled at her. "Bad thing."

"Yes," Omen said. "I am a very bad thing."

"I believe my friend asked you two questions?" Hadari said firmly. "What have you done to Blue."

Omen tried to grin menacingly at them, though using Blue's body it just looked weird. "I merely borrowed his body, so I could communicate with you."

"Then say what you have to say and get out of his body, freak," Artillery said, jabbing a finger at her.

Omen sighed. "If the boss didn't have plans for you I'd just leave you to rot."

"And who is your boss?" Dragon asked.

"I'd love to play twenty questions with you geeks but my time is short and quite frankly the less time I spend around you the better. So, shut up and listen." They didn't like it, but they did as they were told. "Good. Now you are being held in a facility run by a woman named Amanda Waller."

"Wait, the vice president is running this place?" Artillery exclaimed.

"Don't interrupt me," Omen snapped. "Do so again and I'm gone." Artillery glared at her but said nothing. "Good, now, they are currently evacuating this place, making sure to leave nothing behind that could be traced back to Waller. Including her experiments. When the time is right, I will release you from this cell. You will then follow the path I set out for you and no other. Should you do, you will most certainly die. Once you get to the end of the path you will find a large room with teleportation pads, you can use them to escape. There, now I'm finished."

"Thank you," Hadari said.

"Don't thank me," said Omen. "My boss ordered me here to screw with Waller and this is the best way I can think of. And with that, I will take my leave."

"Wait," Artillery yelled. "What about our stuff?"

"Your stuff is being held nearby and the path will allow you to collect them. And feel free to take anything else you want. See you all later," she said, sending chills down the Titans' spines. Blue abruptly went limp and almost fell to the floor. Hadari caught him just before he hit the floor, helping him back to his feet.

"Urgh… someone get me an exorcist," Blue commented, wiping the blood away from his eyes. "Or a bottle of whiskey."

"You're too young to drink," Hadari told him.

"After having a psycho girl violate my mind I think I deserve it," he said. Again, he was making light of his pain with humour. Hadari would have to try and talk to him about it later.

"You know she's using us," Satana said.

"Yeah," Hadari sighed. "But it's not like we have any other choice. Besides, we have no idea what Waller's plans to do with us, but I don't think it's anything good and I'd rather go out fighting than sitting here waiting for the worst to happen."

"Now that's what I'm talking about," Artillery said with a grin. "If we go out, we go out in a blaze of glory."

The others all nodded and prepared as best they could for what was to come when a small voice spoke up.

"Can I come?" Seriko said quietly. They all stared at her, unsure of what to say. "Please."

"Of course, you can," Dragon told her. "We won't leave you behind, we're friends. Right everyone," she said this in a way that meant it was not up for debate, not that they were going to leave her behind anyway.

"I don't see why not," Hack said. "We have plenty of room back at the tower, and it could be the perfect opportunity to study…" Dragon glared at him, "… errr I mean get to know her better."

"You hear that Seriko, your coming home with us," said Artillery.

Seriko slimed widely and her tail began to wag. "Home."

 **-00000-**

Zaniel, Molotok and Project 12 slowly walked down a half-mile-long, featureless hallway with an eight-foot-tall, four-foot-wide cylindrical stasis pod on a hovering flatbed between them. The corridor was wide enough for two trucks to drive side by side down and tall enough that it would take three average men standing on each other's shoulders to reach the roof. Though they seemed to be alone, if there were any problems, sections of the walls would open, and soldiers and automated weapons would emerge to deal with it. Not that they would be able to realistically do anything if things did go wrong. Inside the pod was Project 0, the one thing that Zaniel truly feared. He had seen its power first hand and they had barely been able to contain it when Waller lost control of it. It had cost them dearly and with no way to control it, it had stayed inside that pod ever since.

Zaniel glanced at the other two Waller had ordered to aid in transporting 0.

At seven feet tall and arms the size of tree trunks, Molotok was a beast of a man and had a personality to match. He wore all black clothes, consisting of slacks, a tank top and large boots. He was bald and hideously ugly with two beady eyes. He looked like the offspring of a mutated bear and a gargoyle. But he wasn't recruited by Waller for his frightening appearance. He had the ability to absorb kinetic energy, store it and convert it into strength and durability. This explained his name, Molotok, which was Russian for Hammer, or so the man claimed. Zaniel didn't know Russian, nor cared to learn it.

The other one, Project 12 aka Bombshell was as different to Molotok as fire to water. She looked about seventeen years old, stood at just under six feet in height and was well muscled, but not overly so. Her entire body was covered in dilustel, the same silver metal that made up Captain Atom's skin. Her hair was short and curly, and her eyes shone with the same yellow light as Atom's. She wore dark blue combat trousers, black boots and a black tank-top with the same symbol as Captain Atom's on it. Anyone that looked at her would mistake her for the Captain's daughter but in fact she had no relation to him. She was entirely Waller's doing. Her powers were almost identical to Captain Atom's too, though not quite on his level. Yet.

Zaniel weighed up their chances should 0 escape his stasis pod. Even if they all attacked together and had a thousand soldiers backing them up their chances of surviving were next to none.

"Do not worry, little man," Molotok said with his annoying Russian accent, seeing him staring at the pod. "Should it escape I shall handle it while you cower in fear."

Zaniel kept quiet. He didn't trust himself not to respond in a way that wouldn't set the brute off. He had nothing to fear from him though. He had proved before that Molotok's power didn't stop his shadows. But he'd rather not anger Waller more than he already had by killing him. Bombshell, as usual, had nothing to say.

After a long and agonizingly slow walk, the trio made it to the end of the hall, where a large door lay waiting for them. They came to a stop and a slot opened at the top of the door, emitting a thin beam of red light that passed over them, scanning the three of them and the pod. Once it had finished, the light vanished and the door sluggishly creeped open.

They guided the pod through the doorway into a large round room. It was sixty feet from side to side and was the same sterile white the rest of the facility was. Five other levels sat above them and two below, all with walkways and elevators to enable access to this room's main attraction. A large pad sat it the center of the room with two dozen small pads embedded on it. Off to the side was a tall crescent shaped desk that served as the controls for the pad. This was Waller's own version of the Justice League's zeta-beam technology. It was not as advanced as the League's and was far more limited in range, but it got the job done. It even worked without emitting much zeta radiation, which was a marvel in of itself. Behind the pad, standing up against the far wall, was one of the largest generators Zaniel had ever seen. It was half as wide and tall as the room. Zaniel had been told before why the generator had to be so large, but he hadn't bothered to listen.

On the pad itself there were four other stasis pods identical to the one they were escorting. Zaniel looked over to the crescent desk and a pale hand popped up over it.

"Yo, over here Zany," yelled a young woman's voice.

Zaniel sighed and walked over, leaving Molotok and Bombshell to put Project 0 on the pad. He walked around to the other side of the desk and saw Harley Quinn siting down with her feet up on the computer, eating a plate full of cookies. As usual she was wearing clothes that would put strippers to shame. She wore a tight red and blue corset that showed off more cleavage than was decent, a pair of matching hot pants and knee-high boots. Her hair was also red on the right side and blue on the left. Her skin was as pale as a vampire and her blue eyes had that psychotic look in them that said, go ahead try and touch me. He had to admit, even he had been tempted to try. She was young and beautiful, but he had kept back for two reasons. First, he never got involved with those he worked with. Second, he had heard things about her that made even him cringe.

Next to her was Project 11 aka Mazahs, who was eying Harley's legs like a starving puppy. Mazahs was a little younger than Bombshell with a tanned complexion, short black hair and dark eyes. He was a little shorter than his fellow experiment and was lean rather than muscled. He wore a black bodysuit with the top part that covered his shoulders and came down his front in the shape of a lightning bolt and golden boots and cuffs. His powerset came from Captain Marvel. In fact, his name came from the word that he used to activate his powers. Ironically enough, this was the word Captain Marvel used, only backwards. Zaniel never understood magic, nor did he ever intend to learn. It was just a sure-fire way to a massive headache.

Mazahs noticed that Zaniel had caught him stating and averted his eyes from the clown girl's legs. But, like any teenage boy caught with his hand in the cookie far, became confrontational.

"What are you looking at, old man," he said trying to act tough.

"A little pervert who should keep his eyes on the job," Zaniel chided.

"Aww, lay of the kid, Zany," Harley told him. "He can look all he wants," she said seductively and gave the kid a wink, which cause him to go red. "But if he touches without my say-so we shall see what a hundred-pound mallet does to his magical jewels," she threatened, patting her weapon of choice.

Mazahs gulped and averted his eyes. Funny how even with all his powers, a threat like that was enough to scare him.

Zaniel chuckled. "Well enough of this banter, I assume you are ready to leave?"

"Yup, we were just waiting on you guys," Harley told him and ate another cookie.

Zaniel glanced around the room. Someone was missing. "Where's Omen?" he asked Harley.

"Who?"

"Young girl, blond hair, bandages around her eyes."

"Oh, you mean the girl that turned up two weeks ago and brain blasted you guys into thinking she worked here," she said. "Cookie?" she offered, holding the plate up to him.

"What are you talking about? She's always been here," he told her.

"Then tell me, do you remember anything about her beyond two weeks ago?" she asked.

Zaniel shook his head at the clown girl's attempt to mess with him, but he played along. He thought long and hard, searching for any earlier memories of Omen. But there was nothing, not even a hint. One day she wasn't there, the next she was part of the team. She had perfectly infiltrated them, and no one had noticed.

"Why didn't you tell anyone sooner?!" he snapped.

"No one asked," Harley shrugged.

Zaniel wanted to strangle her there and then, but he had bigger worries right now. He took his communicator and tried to call Waller. He hated her and would love nothing more than to gut her but if he did nothing she might just blow his head off. Before he could the lights began to flicker. Moments later the lights stopped flickering and turned red, the alarms began to blare soon after.

"Oooo, are we having a party," Harley exclaimed excitedly. "Whoop, Whoop."

Zaniel growled but said nothing.

"What is happening?" Molotok asked.

"It's Omen," he told him. "Ok everyone, listen up," he shouted. "Omen tricked us and is now screwing with us. I want her found and bought back here, dead or alive, I don't care which. Molotok take the north wing, Bombshell the east, Mazahs the south and Harley," he looked over to see her licking the cookie crumbs off her plate, he sighed, "take the west. I'll stay here and make sure she doesn't escape."

"Who left you in charge," Molotok challenged.

"Waller did," Zaniel bluffed. "And if Omen escapes it will be you that pays for it, not me."

Molotok grumbled but didn't push it further. He turned his back on Zaniel and left for the north. The others left right after, leaving Zaniel alone with Waller's Projects. Zaniel couldn't help but smirk. All was going according to plan.

 **-00000-**

Back in the cell the Titan's waited silently for Omen to release them. Blue was off to one side, holding his head in his hands. The possession by their would-be saviour had left him shaken. Hadari stood next to him, unsure of how to help his friend but refusing to walk away and leave him. Artillery was doing stretching exercises while Satana meditated on one of the beds. Dragon still had her arm around Seriko, keeping the young alien calm, so calm in fact that she had fallen asleep. It seemed Dragon was treating her like a little sister. Hack was sitting crossed legged on the floor, his fingers moving in mid-air as though he were writing on an invisible whiteboard.

"How much longer is she going to take?" Artillery complained. "We've been waiting for hours."

"It's been twenty minutes," Hack corrected her.

"Whatever, I wish she'd just hurry up."

As if the fates heard her request a section of the wall slid away, revealing a long empty for them to make their escape. A split second later their collars fell from their necks, returning their powers to them. The clanging of the metal collars on the hard floor woke Seriko from her sleep.

"Keep away!" she yelped and let loose a blast of violet, punching a hole in the opposite wall. Thankfully nobody had been on that side of the room.

"Hey, hey, it's ok," Dragon comforted. "We're free. We're taking you home."

"Home," she said happily.

"Come on, let's go before something bad happens," said Hadari taking the lead.

Before they could make a move, alarms began to scream loudly, as if announcing their escape.

"You just had to jinx us, didn't you?" said Satana.

Hadari looked up to the ceiling. He wasn't sure if it was just a coincidence, part of Omen's plan or a certain relative screwing with him, but he had no time to ponder it now.

"Alarms or not, we are getting the Styx out of here," he looked back to team, who looked ready for anything. Seriko looked jittery and clung to Dragon tightly, but there was defiance in her eyes that said that she wasn't going to be left behind. "Ok, Titan's Go!" he yelled and they all ran out of the cell.

 **-00000-**

 **Metropolis**

 **7:30pm**

Batman strode through the wreckage that was once a busy intersection of downtown Metropolis, going over all available information and evidence available to him. Several hours ago, an alien object entered Earth's atmosphere and crashed landed here. Right where Luthor was making a speech, promoting the Titan Initiative, and where the newly appointed team were guarding him. The Titan's did the right thing and got all the civilians and Luthor out of the area before the object landed. Judging by the destroyed vehicles and the damage down to the road and buildings a fight had ensued between the Titans and whatever was in the pod. It was hard to tell who had won the fight. There were patches of blood scattered around the place, and it was impossible to tell who they belonged to. But even if they all belonged to one person the amount here told him it wasn't enough to be lethal. That was at least some good news.

All this could have been avoided if it were not for the large impenetrable forcefield materialised over the area. It was similar to the technology used by the Reach years ago, though much, much stronger. It had taken the League hours to work out how to get through the damn thing and when they did the Titan's, the object and its passenger gone. It was hard to tell who or what was responsible or where they were now, but he was going to do everything in his power to get them back.

"Batman," called a voice from above. Batman looked up as the Green Lantern, John Stewart, descended from above and landed next to him.

"John," Batman said. "Any sign of Superman."

"No," he said worriedly. "I did find traces of kryptonite radiation in the area we lost his signal, and one witness said he saw some kind of robot jump him."

"Metallo?"

"Possibly. There have been sightings of him in the city. But another witness said he saw a lot of robots. So, either he is mistake or…"

"We have a lot more to worry about than we thought," Batman finished. Batman's communicator beeped for an incoming call. "Batman here, what is it," he said holding a hand to his ear. A look of shock came over his face for a fraction of a second before he regained his composure, but John noticed it.

"What is it?" he asked the Dark Knight.

"Hawkman, Hawkwoman and Black Lightning have all gone missing," he told the Green Lantern. "And witnesses said that robots grabbed them before vanishing in a flash of light."

"Dear god," said John.

"Captain Atom is putting the League on high alert. He's asked all Leaguers to get back to the Watchtower as soon as possible," he pressed a button on his gauntlet and the Batplane decloaked and descended from the sky, landing nearby. Batman started to walk towards it when John called him.

"What about you?"

Without turning around, he said back, "I'm going to find the Titans." he leapt into the plane and flew off as fast as his could push his Batplane.

John knew that Batman could not be talked out of something once he set his mind to it. He just hoped that by heading off on his own he hadn't put himself in the line of fire. With nothing else to do here, John took off for the Watchtower, Unaware that he was being watched by a dozen glowing red eyes from the shadows.

 **End of Chapter 03**


	5. The Escape Part 1

**Chapter 04**

 **The Escape**

 **Authors Notes**

 **Sorry about the delay, loads of things happened at once including going back to work after 6/7 weeks off sick, my holiday which I forgot about, doing maths (more on that later) then my laptop going to that scrap heap in the sky.**

 **On a more positive note I'd like to give a big shout out and thanks to San child of the wolves and Gordhanx for all their help and support. Without them to help me I don't think this story would be as good as it will be.**

 **Unknown Location**

 **5:00 pm**

The Titan's left the cell and followed the path that Omen set out for them. It was pretty easy, and obvious, to follow. A bright florescent strip of blue paint marked the otherwise pale white walls. Hadari wiped at the paint with a finger. It was still wet.

"Guess this is the way we go," He said aloud.

"Someone's left an impression," Artillery said to Blue Lantern. He didn't respond to her comment. In fact, he had a distant, haunted look on his face. "Hey, you ok?"

"Yeah," Blue said unconvincingly.

Artillery put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry. If we see her again I'll kick her teeth out through her ass for you."

"Thanks," he said with a smile, regaining his confidence.

"Come on, we need to keep moving," Hadari told them. The others followed him in pairs. Satana and Hack were directly behind him, Artillery and Blue next and Dragon and Seriko bringing up the rear. Seriko was holding on to Dragon's arm like a lost child and she was more than happy to let her hold on.

There were dozens of other white, featureless corridors, leading deeper into wherever the hell they were. There were no signs to be seen anywhere, no markings, nothing. If it were not for the blue paint Omen left for them they could have been lost down here forever. Their captors must have another way to move through this place without getting lost. That also meant they might be on their way to them this very moment. They walked at a faster pace through the eerily empty hall, too wary to run but too anxious to go any slower. All of them were ready for a fight should one happen, except for Seriko. Whatever savagery she had before was gone. Now she was just a frightened little girl that didn't know her own strength, clinging to Dragon for comfort. Without saying it, the Titans had agreed to protect her and help her fit in to her new home world, should they ever get out of here that is.

The alarms, still screaming through their prison, were making it hard to hear for anyone sneaking up on them.

"Satana," Hadari said loud enough for the young sorceress to hear.

She didn't even need to be asked. She cast a spell and thin near invisible tendrils spread from her feet and moved across the floor and walls like a spider's web and worked in the similar manner too. Anything that touched the invisible threads would immediately send a signal back to Satana and give them an early warning. The range was about thirty feet or so. It wasn't great, but it would give them some warning.

Just in case, Hadari held one had open to check the air for disturbances. It wasn't as reliable as Satana's spell, but it would help against those that might be flying at them.

After that was done, they all felt that they could handle any attempt at an ambush. Except for one of them. Hack had still not been able to armour up and had an anxious look on his face. He never liked to be "out in the field" without his armour, it made him feel weak and defenseless. Like he was just a burden or dead weight for his friends and teammates. His armour was like another him, a more confident, stronger him. One that could handle anything.

"Hey Hack, are you ok?" Hadari asked, noticing his discomfort.

"I'm good," he said shakily.

"We're still in that field's range?" Hadari guessed. "That's why you haven't suited up."

Hack nodded. "But I believe that once we get to that storage room that we will be out of it."

"Are you sure about that?"

"It's only logical. This field is a specially designed lower level repeating EMP burst, used to temporally stop any computer or machine within it. But prolonged exposure would damage them, possibly permanently. So, if these things were to be kept nearby they would have to be out of the range of the field." He saw Hadari had a blank look on his face. "Did you understand any of that?" He asked amusingly.

Hadari made a gesture of his hand going over his head. But he did so with a smile.

Hack immediately felt better. Hadari's ADHD made it hard for him to concentrate on anything for long, except for combat. But he tried his best and that's what made him a good friend. What made him a best friend was that he was talking to him to keep his mind off of his insecurities.

"Thanks. We can't be far from it now."

Sure enough, they came to the end of the line. The blue paint lead to a pair of plain looking metal doors with a keypad on the right side of it.

"I got this," Hack said, approaching the keypad. "Cover me while I work my magic," he held his hand against the keypad and closed his eyes in concentration.

"You know I could use "actual" magic to open the door," Satana said.

"And I could probably rip the doors open," Dragon added.

"It would probably be best if you saved your strength," Hack said to Satana. "Every little bit will help. And Dragon, if you did that it would tell out captors which way we went."

The girls couldn't fault his logic and let him do his thing. It only took him a few seconds to get the door open. Hadari held a hand up for the others to stay put while he made sure it was safe. He peaked inside and once he was satisfied there were no immediate threats he motioned the others to join him. They all followed him and once they had all entered, Hack closed the door after them.

The room they entered was rather large, about the size of a tennis court, both sides were covered from top to bottom with what looked like safety deposit boxes like those found in a bank. There were hundreds of them, possibly more, and they ranged in size from the usual sized ones, to ones that were large enough to store a human standing up. Each one was black with a keypad on one side of it. A vast majority of them were open empty. Only about two dozen of them were still occupied. In the middle of it all was a crescent shaped computer console.

"It looks like they've started cleaning house," Said Satana looking around.

"If they have taken my sword I swear I'm taking my rage out on the next person we see," Artillery growled.

Hack let out a sigh of relief when he realised they were out of the EMP field's range. A second later black, metallic ooze bled out from beneath his skin and coated him from head to toe. The liquid metal shaped itself and then solidified into his armour.

Seriko, fascinated by this, reached out and knocked against the armour, eliciting a clanging sound. "Funny noise," she giggled.

"Let's check the computer," Hack said, confidently taking charge. "See where our stuff is and what else we can take."

The Titan's gathered round the computer and Hack raised his hand towards it, interfacing with it. With the combination of his technopathic abilities and his armour's enhanced capabilities he made quick work of the computer's security. Compared to the Titan Tower's own security this was a joke, like comparing Legos to a steel vault. He guessed this place had enough security everywhere else that it made little sense for them to have the same level here. A hindsight that would now aid them.

"I'm in," he told the others. "And good news everyone, our gear is still here."

"Alright Professor Farnsworth let's get on with it," Artillery asked.

Hack sent a command through the computer and five compartments opened up and the trays in them hovered out, parking next to the console. Hadari, Satana, Artillery and Dragon collected their hero suits and weapons from the trays, which then flew back from which they came. Hack merely held out his other hand and his jumpsuit turned to liquid and jumped to him, merging with his armour.

"Anything in here that Seriko can wear?" Dragon asked. "She needs new clothes."

"Why?" Seriko asked looking down at her fur dress. It was coved in holes and tears and had a large blood stain on the back where Zaniel wounded her. "I like this."

"Trust me Seriko, we can find you better," Dragon assured her, but she didn't look convinced. "Tell you what, we'll keep this, and Hack will wash and repair it for you, won't you?" She said, not really giving him a choice.

"Of course, I will," Hack replied. "And I think I've found something for you to wear till it's ready."

Seriko thought this over for a moment before nodding. "Ok."

"Good girl," Dragon complimented and patted her on the head, elicited a big smile from her.

Hack opened up one of the safes on the far side of the room and the tray flew out towards them, carrying something white. Once it got to the console they saw it was a folded-up bodysuit with a familiar looking shield on it.

"Is that what I think it is?" asked Blue.

"A leftover solar suit from when Cadmus made Superboy," Hack told them. "No idea how they got a hold of it, but it will have to do for now. One size fits all," he picked it up and handed it to Seriko.

She looked at it for a moment before saying. "It's shiny." She then immediately went to pull her dress off to change.

"NO!" Drago shouted, stopping her from revealing herself to the boys.

"What?" she asked, outwardly upset by Dragon shouting at her.

Dragon thought quickly for an excuse that would make sense to her. "Because… if boys see you naked… their eyes will melt."

Seriko let out a squeal and leapt behind Dragon to hid herself from the boys. "Don't want eyes melting," she exclaimed.

"Don't worry," Satana stepped in. "I have an idea." She began to chant in Latin. A red curtain materialised on one side of the room. "There, now we can all get changed in privacy. Seriko, you go first."

"Ok," she said merrily, taking the suit and disappearing behind the curtain.

Once she was out of earshot, Hadari gave Dragon a curious look. "Our eyes will melt?"

"Well… it was all I could think of," Dragon told him.

"You could have told her the truth," he countered.

"Do you really think she'd have understood that it isn't proper for guys and girls to undress in front of each other except in a few circumstances. Besides, I don't want either you or Blue getting any ideas."

"What ideas?" Blue asked.

"Come on, she's pretty and she nearly took her clothes off in front you two without a second thought," she told them.

"I didn't realise you thought so little of us," Hadari said, insulted.

"I don't," Dragon conceded. "But you're both boys and, as such, when it comes to things like this you tend to listen to what's in your pants rather than what's in your head."

Both Hadari and Blue where speechless but then again, she wasn't wrong. In the split second that Seriko went to undress their minds did go there, it was only natural, but they would never take advantage of her like that, it wasn't in their nature. It was obvious that Dragon was being just being protective of the alien girl, perhaps overly so.

"Alright, I get where you're coming from," Hadari said, yielding. "You want to protect her, help her fit in. But you shouldn't lie to her, at least not like that."

Dragon looked guilty. "I know, sorry about accusing you like that."

"It's ok, I get it. But you're in charge of teaching her stuff like this from now on, deal," he held out his hand.

"Deal," she said, shaking it.

"And tell her the truth about our eyes, will you."

"I'll think about it," she said, winking. Seriko returned from behind the curtain wearing the solar suit, holding the remains of her dress. As Hack said it was one size fits all and it fit her like a glove. But she still looked uncomfortable.

"What's wrong?" Dragon asked her.

"Feels weird," she told her. "No hole for tail," she pointed at her lower back where the tail was bunched up. Given how sensitive her tail was it wasn't any surprise.

"Let's see if we can fix that." She said, walking over to the young alien.

She knelt down behind her and with her claws, carefully cut a hole in the back of the suit around where her tail was. Then, gently, she pulled the tail through the hole. Even so, Seriko winced with every minor pressure on it. Dragon was unsure on how to help her with this weakness but maybe Hack would know. She'd have to ask him when they were back at the Tower. After a long thirty seconds, Seriko's tail was finally free from the confines of the suit.

"Better?" Dragon asked.

Seriko gave an experimental flick of her tail then wrapped it around her waist. "Yep, better."

"Good. I'll go get changed next."

Dragon picked up her clothes and, Seriko, obviously not knowing the concept of privacy, tried to follow her. Satana intercepted her and tried to explain privacy to her, though it looked to be a losing battle.

Hadari chuckled at the scene then turned to Hack. "Anything else in here that could help us?"

Hack was silent for a moment as he mentally searched through the catalogue of items. "Yeah, a few things. Let's see." Another thought opened up fifteen safes. The trays flew out and settled next to the console. The first one caught Artillery's eye. It was a katana and its scabbard laying side by side. What was unusual about it was the blade was made of an emerald coloured metal, rather than steel. On the hilt of the blade was a bright red button.

"What's with the sword?" she asked picking it up.

Hack read the description from the database. "It appears that this sword was made using promethium," he told her. "A rare, nearly indestructible metal that has an interesting property. It can absorb energy and, with the right trigger, release it. I guess that's what the button is for."

"Dibs," Artillery said, sheathing the sword and taking it for herself. Seeing Dragon was done she took her clothes to get changed.

The next tray stopped next to Satana. On it was what looked like a small, light brown pouch with a bright red string tied round the opening. Like the kind that would be used for coins a few hundred years ago. Satana could sense magic coming from it.

"That," Hack said before she could ask, "appears to be a magic pouch."

"Obviously," Satana said sarcastically.

Hack cleared his throat. "Well, according to the log it can hold pretty much anything without changing the weight of the pouch and anything held near the opening will shrink till it can fit inside. I'm pretty sure there is a limit to what it can hold but it seems they haven't done a thorough experiment with it yet. There's a little caveat here in their notes saying don't put any living thing in it, except maybe plant life, as it would probably die."

"Sounds useful," Satana said. She picked it up and placed it with her clothes for when it was her turn. She had barely put it down when she sensed a dark presence. She looked up as another tray came up to them. On it was a small wooden black box engraved with gold letters. She didn't even wait for Hack to tell her what it was before picking it up and slowly opening it. Inside were ten black rings, each with different coloured markings on them.

"Ooooh, pretty," Seriko said, taking a peek.

"Satana, you ok?" Artillery asked, coming out.

"Yeah," she said. "I sense a dark presence from these," she held her hand over them for a moment. "There are some seriously powerful protective spells on these. I have no idea what they do but since someone went to all the effort to put these spells on them they must be pretty dangerous."

"How bad would it be if someone tried to wear them?" Blue asked.

"I'm guessing either a quick painful death or a slow painful one." Satana said nonchalantly.

"Got it, don't wear them."

Hadari thought it over. On one hand the enhancements from the rings could be incredibly useful, once they figured out what they were. But unless Satana figured out how to remove the protective spells they would be far too dangerous to use.

"We'll take them," he said reluctantly after a moment. "Just in case." Satana shut the box and held it near her new pouch. In the blink of an eye it sucked it in like black hole. Thirteen other trays hovered nearby, all the items held in various sized black boxes. But before they could examine the contents, two men in white outfits carrying guns walked into the room.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" one of them shouted.

Before either of them could raise their weapons, Hadari sent a blast of air at them, launching them out of the room. They collided with the wall with enough force to knock one of them out. The other one however, remained conscious for a few more seconds.

"Intruders… in vault one-oh-one…," he said before Hadari sent another blast of wind at him, finishing the job.

"Alright, time to move," he said. "Grab everything and shove it in the bag. Better in our hands than theirs. We can sort through them later."

Satana cast another spell and all the boxes levitated off their trays. They then shot into the bag like the scene from old The Sword in the Stone movie. She even took Seriko's ruined dress, just to free her arms up.

"Ok, if it wasn't clear they now know we are out and where we are," Hadari told the team. "We're probably going to have to fight our way out of here."

"Fighting bad," Seriko said lightly, looking at the floor.

The others were taken aback a little. It wasn't that long ago she was throwing them about. But given what she had possibly been through, it wasn't as surprising as it might have been.

Dragon walked up to her. "It's ok, you don't have to fight if you don't want to," she told her. "You just follow us, and we'll look after you, ok."

"Ok," Seriko replied softly.

"Let's get going," Hadari told them. "Before more show up."

"One second," said Satana. "You and I are still not changed."

Hadari had forgotten. He looked down at his prison getup then at his hero garb, still laying there on the hovering tray. It would only take them a few minutes each to get changed, but that was a few minutes they probably didn't have. Then again, they could save some time by changing together. Then his mind went somewhere that wasn't appropriate for this time and place. Thankfully, Satana's mind was in right place.

With a quick mutter in Latin, she cast a spell. In a flash of light, both of them had changed into their gear, while the prison clothes were now dust on the floor.

"Thanks, but why didn't you do that earlier?" Hadari asked confused.

"It's easy to use on myself but using it on others is a bit harder and could have had… unwanted effects," she explained.

"What kind of effects?" Hadari asked, worried.

"I could have… taken something else off as well. Thankfully, with the lack of blood, nothing important was removed."

Hadari was horrified and had a few words he'd like to share with her. But now was not the time. They had to get out of here before it was too late.

"Right," he said with a bit of a squeak. "Let's get a move on."

"Wait!" Hack shouted. "I've got into some heavily encrypted stuff. Stuff that could proof useful."

"Can you decrypt it on the move?" Hadari asked him.

"Do ducks quack?"

"Then shake a leg and download it, we gotta move." Hadari told him.

Hack downloaded everything in record time and joined the others. He and the others left the room, careful not to step on the comatose bodies of the guards and ran through the facility. The blue paint was back, guiding them once again, leading them to their freedom. Hopefully.

They turned a corner only to be met with two dozen guards, armed with guns, shock batons and riot shields.

"You just had to jinx it," Satana said to Hadari.

"Meh, I needed the exercise," Artillery said and drew her brand new indestructible blade.

The Titan's rushed the guards, who were woefully unprepared for the ass kicking they were about to receive.

 **-00000-**

Zaniel paced impatiently by the zeta-pad's console. He wanted out of here as soon as possible but he couldn't leave without Omen. If he returned without her the consequences would be dire. He was a sadistic psychopath and he was proud of it. But his real boss was on other level and the things he would do to him if he returned without his pet were best not thought of.

But if he didn't leave soon then it would become more and more likely that his true intentions would be uncovered and either Waller would kill him, or the boss would. Damned if he left, damned if he stayed. He'd give her a few more minutes then risk the wrath of the boss. He glanced over to the five pods that sat on the zeta-pad. He wondered if bringing them back to the boss would somehow lessen any punishment for leaving Omen behind. But he quickly dismissed the idea. He had enough on his plate right now had no time to break them in. And he doubted even the boss would be able control Project Zero.

" _No one can control me,"_ a voice echoed in his head.

Zaniel stopped pacing and slowly turned his head towards Project Zero's stasis pod. It was still sealed and in working order. Had Zero escaped he would have the monster's hand round his throat by now. Was it all in his head? Or was the stasis field failing? Either way he wanted out of here.

"Getting jumpy, Zaniel," said a voice behind him.

It had taken all he had not to visibly jump. He turned around to see Omen not ten feet from him. She was in her mid-teens and was about five and a half feet tall with a slim build. Her strawberry blond hair was tied back in a short pony tail. She wore a dark green, tight fitting, strapless dress that came down to just above her knees with matching boots, two silver bracelets and red bandages wrapped around her eyes. Hanging off of one shoulder was a black, fashionable handbag. She had a grin on her face that would frighten off even the toughest guy. And he should know. Aside from the boss and Project Zero, she was the only person that scared him.

"You've been here long enough to know how exactly what that thing is capable of," he said, defending himself.

"Oh, you poor thing, being left here alone with him," she said seductively. She walked up to him and threw her arms around his neck. "Anything I can do to make it better?"

She was baiting him, he knew that, and he also knew what she'd do to him if he gave her an inch. "No," he said pushing her off. "You got what the boss needs?"

"Show me yours, I'll show you mine," she said. Zaniel just stared at her. Seeing that he wasn't going to play along, she shrugged and pulled a flash drive out from her handbag. "Now, show me yours?"

One of his shadow tendrils moved from beneath his coat and produced a glass vial of green liquid. "Grabbed it just before those brats got there. You didn't give me much time."

"I knew you'd be able to do it. Besides, I like a man that can work under pressure," she winked.

Zaniel supressed a shudder. "Let's just get out of here."

Omen shrugged. "Fine." She leapt at him, throwing her arms around him again, much to his discomfort. "Better hold on, Zaniel," she whispered in his ear. "I have no idea what happens to people that let go." In a flash of green light there were both gone, leaving the Projects alone.

The pod containing Zero shook slightly and cracked slightly near the top. A pair of red eyes looked out from it.

"Soon," Zero laughed. "Soon."

 **-00000-**

After making quick work of the guards, the Titans raced through the maze-like complex once again. The twists and turns were ridiculous, if it was not for the blue glowing paint they would have never made it this far. Another wave of guards got in their way and Hadari aimed his staff at them and sent a lightning bolt in their direction, delivering a jolt as powerful as a taser to each one. They dropped to the floor, only for another group to take their place. Satana took point and cast a sleep spell, knocking them out before they could raise their weapons. A third group came at them and Dragon leapt at them. Their bullets had no effect on her armour-like scales and with a barrage of punches and slaps with her powerful tail they followed the rest of their comrades into the realm of unconsciousness.

"How many of these guys are there?" Artillery asked.

"From the radio chatter I'm picking up, at least four more squads," Hack answered.

Artillery groaned loudly. "Seriously."

"You said you needed exercise," Blue pointed out.

"Yeah, not this much though."

"Doesn't matter now," Hadari said. "four squads or forty, if they stand in our way, we're going through them."

Hadari was in his element. He was a natural born leader and a skilled combatant, able to react to new threats quickly and figure out how best to deal with them almost as fast as Hack, with his super computer-like mind, and even direct his teammates on the rare occasions they needed it.

The next squads came and fell to Hack's concussion missiles, Artillery's martial arts skills, and Blue using himself as a human battering ram. Only Seriko didn't fight. The alien girl kept back throughout the whole ordeal. Timidly watching on as the Titan's fought their way through waves of these goons. As they moved on, she tentatively stepped around the fallen guards, careful not to step on any of them, while trying to keep up with the others. She was being so cautious about where she was stepping and trying to keep up that she failed to notice one of the guards getting up behind her. He picked up his gun and aimed it at her head.

Hack turned around at the last moment and saw this. "Look out, Seriko!" he shouted and bought up his concussion cannon but a bit too slow.

The guard pulled the trigger and fired. But no bullet hit its mark. Seriko had spun around in a fraction of a second to face her assailant and her hands moved even faster. The guard emptied his whole clip and she caught every bullet. The guard looked at her in absolute terror. Seriko looked down at the bullets in her now bloody hands in confusion. While the two were immobile, Hack shot the guard with a concussion blast to the side of his head, making sure to knock him out. The suddenness of it made Seriko drop the bullets. The Titan's all rushed over to her.

"Are you alright?" Dragon asked worriedly.

"Hands hurt," she said. She seemed ok, if a little shocked. Whether it was from the surprise attack or how she reacted was unclear. She seemed very unaware of what she was capable of.

Blue stepped towards her. "Don't worry, I got you." He aimed his ring at her hands. In no time at all her hands were fully healed and blood free. "There we go, good as new."

"Thank you, Blurb" she said cheerfully and leapt up and hugged him, burying her head in his chest and almost seemed to purr.

She let go and joined Dragon, who, being a protective big sister to Seriko, was giving Blue an accusing glare. He responded by holding his arms out as if to ask what he did wrong.

"Come on, lets keep going," Hadari said to the team.

As they left the guards behind, Hack held out his hand and sent a technopathic command to shut down any electronic devices they might have. Their journey passed by without any more incidents, which was a worry.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Hack said, walking beside Hadari

"If you're thinking where are the rest of the guards, then yes," he replied.

"I've been trying to scan ahead for danger, but there's so much interference I'm getting nothing."

"Then let's hope we don't run into any surprises," Hadari said cautiously.

They walked for a few more minutes and were almost upon an intersection when Seriko unexpectedly spoke up.

"Someone there," she said, pointing to the right passageway.

The Titan's stopped. "Are you sure?" Hadari asked her. He wasn't sure how she knew, but he aimed his staff at the corner, just in case. The others followed suit.

"Yep," she said.

"She's right," Satana whispered. "Whoever it is, they weren't moving, so my spell didn't pick them up."

"All right," Hadari said loud enough for who ever was hiding to hear. "Whoever you are, come on out. We know you're there."

A few seconds passed by, then the last person they expected to see stepped around the corner. In her eye catching red and blue outfit, massive mallet and killer grin, Harley Quinn was not someone they'd mistake for someone else.

"Aww, you kiddies spoiled the surprise," she said mockingly.

Hadari couldn't say anything, he was completely mesmerised by Harley and her Outfit. Seeing this, Artillery took charge of the conversation. "What are you doing here, Harley?" she asked. "This is not your usual gig."

"Blame Fatty McFat Fat Face," The clown girl said as though she was taking about a bowel movement. "She drugged me, and not the good kind either, though I was buzzing for a few days after that, and bought me to this dump. Then the bitch put a bomb in my neck," she pointed at the back of her neck for emphasis, "Now I gotta do what she says or boom, pop goes the Harley."

"After what you've done that wouldn't be a bad thing," Artillery quipped.

"Ooooh, you're a feisty one. I'd love to cave in that pretty little skull of yours," Harley said, lifting her mallet.

"Stand down clown," Dragon yelled. "You're out numbered and unless Waller gave you powers you're outgunned too."

"Whatever you say frog girl," Harley mocked, eliciting a growl from Dragon. "I'm not here to play today."

"Then why are you here?"

Harley placed her mallet against the wall as a show of peace. "I'm here to make you an offer you can't refuse," she said in her best Vito Corleone impression which, Dragon had to admit, was pretty good.

"Say what you have to say, then either get out the way or I'm going to take that mallet and shove it where the sun doesn't shine."

"Frog girl is kinky," Harley said with a seductive grin. "Maybe if we get out of here we can find a seedy motel and give it a whirl. I'll bring the lube."

Dragon visibly shuddered in repulsion. "I'm a dragon, not a frog. Now get on with it."

"Whatevs," Harley shrugged. "Look, you kids wanna escape but the is only one way out and between you and freedom is a big ass door that not even your pintsized can opener over there can get through…" she said pointing at Hack.

"Pintsized," the armoured hero said, sounding hurt.

"…But I got the digits you need to get it open. So, you scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours."

"What do you want?" Artillery asked her.

"The bomb in the back of neck removed, what else yer moron. And I know the tin kid over there can do it. So whatcha say?"

"Give us a minute," Dragon told her. She gestured to the others to join her a short distance away. She had to drag Hadari away by the back of his armour to get his attention.

"Better hurry," Harley called after them. "Clock's ticking. Tick tock tick tock."

"So, what do you guys think?" Dragon asked once they were out of earshot.

"She's hot," Hadari said and immediately regretted it. Dragon gave him a death glare that would frighten any hellhound. He knew he was going to get chewed out by her later. He really had to do something about this curse.

Dragon turned to the rest of the team. "Have you guys got anything productive to say?"

"I think we should do it," Hack spoke up. "While I think I am quite capable of getting through what ever door that's in our way, I'm not arrogant enough to refuse help if offered."

"I agree," Satana approved. "Besides what can she do to us."

"Are you kidding?" Artillery exclaimed. "She's insane. She'll stab us in the back as soon as help us."

"You are wearing magic, bullet proof, self-repairing clothes," Hack pointed out.

"I didn't mean just literally," Artillery snapped. "She knows this place a lot better than we do, she could easily lead us into a trap. And seeing as this is Harley Quinn we're taking about, it would be completely like her to screw us over the first chance she gets."

"Not right now, honest," Harley said, causing the whole team, save for Seriko, to jump out of their skins. They had been so engrossed in their conversation they hadn't noticed her walk over. "Ok, look," she folded her arms, "We all want outta here and I can't leave with this bomb in me and you can't leave without my codes. So, quit yakking and start yanking," she said to Hack

Hack looked to Hadari and Dragon for advice. Hadari was looking away, trying to keep the clown girl out of his field of vision. Dragon looked annoyed and of two minds but gave him a nod to go ahead. "Just make it quick," she told him. "Hadari, Satana you two keep look out ahead of us, Blue and I will watch our rear."

Hadari, glad to be away from the clown, almost ran for it, with Satana following behind, shaking her head. Dragon and Blue went the other way, and Seriko followed.

Hack walked cautiously up to Harley. "Ok, turn around and bend down so I can get this over with. And don't say whatever it is you're thinking," The armoured hero warned her, knowing exactly what she was going to say.

"Party pooper," Harley grinned but said nothing more.

Hack held his hand near the back of Harley's neck and reached out with his mind while using his on armour's advanced computer to find the bomb. It took him a nanosecond to find the bomb. It was embedded in the base of her skull and about the size of a quarter. It wasn't deep enough that taking it out would be a problem, but on further inspection the bomb went further in. Wires ran from the bomb through her skull and into her brain. Waller obviously wanted to make it as difficult as possible to remove this bomb. He could remove it now, but there would be a lot of blood loss and damage to her brain. Not that the brain damage would make her any worse.

"Hey, what's the hold up Short Round," Harley snapped.

"First off, the bomb is wired into your brain so unless you want me to rip out a huge chunk of your grey matter you should be patient. Second, if you make fun of my height again I'll rewire your brain and make you tell us those codes."

"My, my, you have quite the backbone there. If only you were a little older and not so nice I may have fallen you. Or at least given you the ride of your life."

Hack blushed beneath his armour, but he was able to keep his voice steady. "Blue, I need a nurse here."

Blue Lantern looked to Dragon who nodded for him to go. Blue sighed and rolled his eyes but complied. "What do you need?"

"Keep her healed up," he told him. "I'm going to disable then remove the bomb, there is going to be a lot of blood."

"Yippie," Harley squealed with delight.

Blue Lantern held his ring towards Harley and started the healing process. He then looked to Hack and whispered, "Can you actually rewire her brain?"

"I was bluffing," he replied, setting to work with a small laser and started to cut away at the Harley's skin. "I know a little but not enough to do that. I'm just hoping I don't pull her brain out when I remove this bomb."

"That might be an improvement," Blue jested.

"Hey," Harley objected.

As Hack got to work the others kept a look out. Seriko, seeming to sense Dragon's irritation, asked, "Why you not like her?"

"Because she's a criminal," Dragon explained, then when she saw Seriko's confusion at the word, she added, "She's bad."

Seriko moved a little further from Harley. "Don't like bad."

"I don't either, but we need her help and she needs ours. And heroes help those in need, even if they are bad."

"Heroes?" Seriko asked, confused by word.

"Heroes are people that protect the innocent from bad things and fight criminals when needed."

"Fighting bad," Seriko told her.

"Sometimes," Dragon agreed. "But sometimes it's good, like stopping bad guys from hurting people. Like what we do," Dragon gestured to her and the other Titans. "We fight bad people and help good people so that they can live is peace."

Seriko thought about this for a moment then said, "Dragon good. Want to be like Dragon. Stop bad people."

Dragon smiled at her. "Well, once we get out of here we'll see about getting you trained up, make you a real hero."

Seriko beamed at her and Dragon couldn't help but give her a pat on the head. She may not understand much yet and she was very childlike but her heart was in the right place and maybe she could be a good hero someday, if given the chance.

While Dragon and Seriko were having a nice chat, Hadari and Satana were having a very different conversation.

Hadari was standing rigidly, staring out down one corridor while Satana looked down the other. He could just make Hack and Blue working on pulling the bomb out of Harley's neck out of the corner of his eye. Despite the amount of pain she must be in, even with Blue healing her up, there was a look of pleasure on her face. She even gave him a cheeky wink. He averted his gaze just enough to keep her out view while still keeping a look out.

"You're cursed, aren't you?" Satana asked, still watching her hallway.

"I… I don't know what you mean," he told her unconvincingly.

"During our training you were normal, you interacted with everyone like an average human being. Then you disappeared for a week and came back unable to look at any girl without drooling like a hungry puppy looking at a steak. You can't even look at me, Dragon or Artillery without looking at our breasts first."

"I… um… ah," Hadari tried to think of something but his mind wouldn't let him.

"I'm not mad that you are looking, but I am mad you never told us and I had to figure it out for myself," she told him.

"Sorry," Hadari said, feeling like dirt. "I thought I could handle it myself. It wasn't that bad the first few days, but after that it got worse and worse. And now I'm worried about what I will do if this goes on any longer. I've only just managed to control myself with you guys, everyone else, it's much harder."

"How did it happen?" Satana asked.

"I was asked to go to Mt Olympus by my father, he said it was important," he started. "All the gods were there. They asked me to do something, something that I didn't agree with. There was an argument and I told them to shove their request up their godly backsides."

Satana's eyes widened. "That was foolish. I'm surprised they didn't turn you to ash right there and then for that remark."

"They almost did, but they thought it better to just curse me instead."

"What did they ask you to do that was so bad?" she asked him.

"It… it's personal. It's something I really don't want to talk about."

"That's fine," Satana told him. "I know the value of personal stuff, especially family matters. But we still need to do something about that curse. Once we are out of here I'll see if I can help."

"Thanks," he said, feeling relieved.

"But please stop staring at my ass."

He spun around. "I wasn't…" he stopped when he saw he glancing over her shoulder, giving him a teasing smile. He chuckled and turned back round. He was glad to have a friend like her. But if she knew what the gods had asked of him, what would she think then.

"Ok, got it," Hack declared, holding up the coin sized bomb, wires dangling from it like tentacles on an octopus. It was covered in blood and there was a small pool of it by his feet as well.

"That's it?" Harley said disappointingly. She stood up. "I was hoping for more crunch."

"You can thank Blue for that," Hack told her. "He kept you healed so you didn't go into shock, or lose too much blood."

Harley gave Blue a death glare. She shrugged her shoulder. "Well, whatever, least the bomb is out."

The others gathered round, though they kept their distance from the blood.

"Now that we've helped you, can you give us the codes?" Dragon asked her.

Harley thought about it for a moment. "Well, I'd love to but technically I'm the code, and you don't seem to want me."

"What?" Dragon asked.

"Yeah, the door needs my bio-signature to open. So you want out of here, you're stuck with me for a little while longer."

The Titan's, save for Hadari, looked at her with disbelief, though they should have expected this, especially from Harley. Besides if there was only one way out then they would have to accompany and probably even protect her now that she had her bomb removed.

Dragon growled in frustration. "Fine, but I'm keeping my eye on you. Get a move on."

"All right, team up," Harley cheered and took the lead, doing an overexaggerated march.

Once more they continued on their way through the facility, unsure of what lay ahead of them. But they were resolute and ready for whatever this place threw at them. Or so they thought.

 **End of chapter 04**

 **After notes**

 **Just a heads up I have three other projects that I am planning and putting together. Two are more Fanfictions but the third one will be a story I will be looking to actually publish. More on these as I progress.**


	6. The Escape Part 2

**Chapter 05**

 **The Escape Part 2**

 **Author's notes.**

 **Sorry for another delay. Between a friend passing away and having a bad reaction to medicine for my chest I have been in a constant state of depression for about 2-3 months and I am now off sick from work and there is a chance I'll be fired so I am not in the right state of mind all the time right now so updates might be more sporadic than ever now.**

 **Also this chapter has been split into multiple, smaller parts as it is growing quite large.**

 **Site Two, Unknown Location.**

 **19:21PM**

Amanda Waller settled into her new office as quickly as she could, there was a lot to do and not much time to do it. It was smaller than her last office, less than half the size, but its position gave her quick access to all the important parts of the facility via her private elevator.

It had been a few hours since her departure from Site One and Site Two's skeletal crew were working overtime to get the rest of the facility up and running. Not long after they had started working, the scientists, their work and soldiers began beaming in via the zeta-pad, bringing everything she had worked for since the Apokolips Invasion two years ago. All except for the remains of the Alpha Project, her team and everything from the west storage block.

"Where the hell are they?" she said tensely.

They were meant to be the last to arrive but it had been an hour and still no sign of them. Had the Justice League found Site One already? If so she had just lost a large portion of her research and inventory. And most of it was irreplaceable. Though that wasn't as worrying as losing the Alpha Projects and her team.

Everything had been going great till Zaniel had told her about the alien. After that everything started going to hell. And if she were to be completely honest with herself it was all her own fault. She should have never trusted Zaniel. After he went after that alien and bought those wannabe heroes back with it she was forced to run with her tail between her legs and that thought galled her to no end. But with the possible threat of discovery and interference from the Justice League it was the best course of action. She wished she could have just loaded those brats onto the zeta-pad and sent them back, or even just kill them. But she had other priorities. Her work must be kept secret at all costs. Luthor had made that clear that if she was discovered that he would not be bought down with her.

She needed to know what was going on at Site One. If anything fell into the League's hands then her life was pretty much forfeit.

Waller left her office and took her elevator down to security. The elevator journey took only a few seconds and it was so smooth it felt like she hadn't moved at all. The doors opened and she stepped into the security office. Unlike Site One, which had several of them throughout its complex structure, this was the only office here, though at least it was a good size.

Two dozen men and women sat at computers in a circle around the central computer, each watching several screens. Every one of them had a small battalion at their beck and call should anything go awry. She walked passed everyone, and to their credit they did not acknowledge her, they just did their job and kept their eyes on their work. She stopped at the central console, where the commander of her security force, a woman in her mid-thirties with dark hair and a stern expression on her face, sat overseeing everything around her via four holographic computer screens that surrounded her.

"What's the situation with Site One?" Waller asked her, trying to hide her anger but not succeeding very well.

"Unknown, ma'am," she replied with a French accent. "We are trying to contact them now. But the zeta-pad is interfering with our signal."

"I don't want excuses, I want results," Waller snapped.

"Understood, but we still haven't figured out how to use our communicators at this range while the zeta-pad is active. And if we shut it down it will take a while to power it up again."

"It's too risky to shut it down just yet," Waller told her. "We need those projects, they are too valuable to lose, especially Zero. With out him this whole operation will fail."

A nameless worker behind them spoke up. "Ma'am, I've gotten access to the cameras from Site Two."

"Send it to me," the woman barked. The man typed away on his keyboard and the camera feed from Site Two appeared on the four screens around Waller and the woman. The footage was done in double speed so they could catch up with what was going on. What Waller learned enraged her to the point where she thought she'd pass out.

Omen and Zaniel had betrayed her, not that Waller expected loyalty with them, hence the need for the explosive implants. But the fact that they managed to escape the facility with such ease meant that they didn't have the bombs anymore, or maybe they never had them to begin with, and they had been using her. For what she didn't know but when she found them she would take great pleasure in extracting that information from them, painfully.

The video then switched to the Titan's and the alien girl. They had somehow managed to escape their confinement, take everything of value from the west storage block and fought their way through the remaining guards like they were nothing. They had even managed to team up with that psycho, Harley Quinn, and removed her implant.

Waller held onto a nearby rail and took out her anger on it, crumpling the metal bar as though it were a paper cup. The woman in charge saw this but said nothing, she didn't even seem surprised at it. The video feed switched to a more reassuring one. The remaining projects were placed on the zeta-pad and were safely sealed in their containers. Two of the guards loaded the alien's space pod onto the pad as they watched which was a bonus. All was not lost just yet.

"Can we activate Site One's zeta-pad from here?" Waller asked.

"Yes, but it will take time," the woman told her. "We'll need to hack into our own systems and the zeta radiation will make it difficult from this range, but I am confident that we will get it done before the Justice League finds it."

"Good, get it done," Waller started to walk back to her office but stopped halfway to the elevator. "What's your name, Commander?" Waller asked the woman.

"Laura DeMille, ma'am," she told Waller. "Code name, Madame Rouge."

 **-00000-**

 **Site One**

 **19:21pm**

The Titan's followed Harley, though they were still unsure if she was leading them into a trap or not. But they had little choice on the matter. Every corridor was almost identical to the last and every turn could lead them to a dead end or back where they had come from. So they were forced to trust her for now.

They were all on edge, they hadn't seen hide nor hair of any guards since their last encounter and the alarms had gone deathly silent. The only sounds to be heard were the sounds of their footsteps and whispered chatters. They couldn't risk talking any louder with the threat of an ambush waiting around every corner.

Seriko, on the other hand, didn't seem to care and was walking along happily enough. She was still walking around like a monkey but at times she'd switch to two feet for a bit then going back to all fours all without realising it. She was so happy in fact that she kept trying to get head pats from everyone, even the psycho clown girl, who was happy enough to oblige.

Dragon was about to call Seriko to get her away from Harley when they rounded one last corner and came to a long corridor and at the end of it lay a large metal door. It took them a few minutes to get to the end of it and when they finally got there, there didn't seem to be any way to open it. No keypad, no lock, not even a door handle. Hack couldn't even find anyway to interface with it, there was too much zeta-beam radiation interfering with his suit and even his abilities. That was something he didn't know until now, he'd have to upgrade his suit, or find a way to boost his powers. Either way he would enjoy the challenge.

"Here we go, give me a sexy second and I'll open it up," Harley told them. She walked up to the pair of massive pair of doors and stood still for a moment, her arms and legs spread wide in stance that reminded them of a ringmaster in a circus. A slot opened at the top of the door, emitting a thin beam of red light that passed over her. The door opened slowly, making an ominous grinding noise as it did. "Ta-da," She said cheerily, striking a pose for the Titans as she did. She walked in and the Titan's trailed behind.

As they entered the room Hack noted that it looked similar to the zeta-tube room on the Watchtower. There were three other doors identical to the one they came through leading off into what must have been the other wings and a huge reactor sitting between two of the doors. It was almost identical to the zeta-beam room in the Watchtower in every way, except for one thing. It was nowhere near as advanced, and neither was its security. Ideas flashed through his mind faster than a human eye could blink. While he wasn't in Titan's Tower for long, he was sure they didn't have access to zeta-beam. The benefits of having access to it were great, though the thought of being able to freely experiment with the technology was his driving thought here. He extended his awareness through the room and copied every single piece of data in the time he took three steps. This would make over one-hundred terabytes of highly encoded data he had taken from here already. Even with his skills it would take some time to get through it all. Once he was done he noticed the five pods sitting on the zeta-beam pad in front of them, along with the remains of Seriko's space pod. The others waited for Seriko to flip out on seeing it, but she had no reaction to it, in fact she didn't even acknowledge it existence.

"What's with the pods?" Blue asked.

"It's a space pod," Harley told him. "The one you're monkey friend came here in. You stupid or something?"

"The other ones moron," Artillery snapped.

"Oh, those. They're some of Fatty's experiments," Harley told them. "Never really took notice of them, 'cept the ones she let out. And Zero that is," she pointed towards the larger of the five pods.

"Bad, bad, bad, very bad," Seriko whimpered and hid behind Dragon the best she could. It was as though she sensed something terrible inside the Dragon petted her to try and keep her calm.

"Don't wet yourself," Harley said. "He's nice and safe inside that… pod." While the pod that contained Zero was still sealed shut, there was a big crack up the side of it. "Umm… we better get going."

"How bad would it be if Zero got out?" Hadari asked her.

"On a scale of one to ten I'd say you'd have a more enjoyable time shoving one of those giant cacti up your bum" she elaborated.

"Thank you for that disturbing image," Satana told her.

Hack checked the files he downloaded earlier for any data on this Zero. Thankfully there was. But like everything else it was heavily encrypted. Not as much as some of the other files but enough that it would take him a few minutes. But he was interrupted from this by the task at hand.

"Hack, get the zeta-pad online," Hadari told him. "We need to get going before something bad happens."

"On it," he said. Hack leapt onto the control panel and set about getting the zeta-pad back online. "Ok, good news, bad news and terrible news."

"What's the good news?" Satana asked.

"Well, I can get the zeta-pad working again," He told them. "The security here is a joke compared to the rest of this place."

"And what's the bad news?" Artillery asked.

Hack was still typing away. "It'll take twenty minutes for this thing to warm up, there are only two other pads logged into this and I can't program any other destinations into it."

"Anywhere is better than here," Hadari said. "But what's the terrible news."

"There are three small armies of guards heading our way, each one is being lead by what I can only assume are some of Waller's superpowered goons," Hack told them. "And they'll be here in fifteen minutes."

"Can you lock them out?" Hadari shouted.

Hack reached out with his power but nothing happened, the zeta-beam radiation was still interfering with his powers. He'd have to do it the old fashioned way. But he was more than up to the challenge, and in moments he was in and had locked down the room. Not as fast as it would have been with his powers but it was good to exercise his own skills once in a while.

"Ok, done," he said. "But I don't know for how long, I don't know what powers those guys have."

"Ok, Harley tell us everything on these guys, now," Dragon said.

Harley put a finger to her temple as though in thought. "Let's see, Waller likes to put the powers of others into her pet projects, specifically the Justice Brigade. The silvery chick, Bombshell's her name I think, has Captain Atom's and the kid, Mazahs has Captain Marvel's. Huh, didn't know they were both captains. And I never once saluted them."

"Focus, dumbass," Artillery said. "What about the third guy?"

"Oh, Molotok, he absorbs kinetic energy and turns it into strength," she told them.

"Do any of them have bombs in them like you did?" Hadari asked her.

"Just the kiddies, Molly is doing this because he likes Waller, gross I'm I right."

Hadari's mind flared as he thought of a battle plan. "Alright everyone, if it wasn't obvious already we're going to have a fight on our hands. Get whatever you can use for cover and move it into positions between the pad and the doors. It won't do anything for the big guys but for the normal guards it will give us some additional protection from their guns. Hack, can you remove their bombs like you did Harley's?"

"I don't think so. If they have the same abilities as the two Captains then my tools will not be able to cut them out," he replied. "But I know how to disable them now so taking them out won't be necessary."

"Good. Ok, here's the plan, we divide and conquer, it's simple but I think we'll stand a better chance this way. I'll fight Bombshell, I know Captain Atom's powers and I my armour should stand up to her strength. Satana can you take on Mazahs?"

"He shouldn't cause me too much trouble," Satana answered. "My magic will be far superior to his borrowed one."

"Good, our abilities should be the best bet for tackling them. Hack, when you see an opening disable their bombs, hopefully that will get them on our side. If not, join whichever of us needs the most help."

"Understood," Hack said. "And now that I know how the bombs work I should be able to deactivate them faster."

Hadari nodded. "Artillery and Harley, can you take on Molotok, at least until we have dealt with our lot?"

"No problem," Artillery told him. "But I won't need her help," she said sneering at Harley.

"Aww, what's wrong, afraid I'll show you up?" Harley taunted.

"In your dreams."

"Enough you two, we need to work together to get out of this," Hadari chided them.

Neither of them said anything but nodded in agreement.

"Good. Remember, he absorbs kinetic energy so rely on hit and run tactics till we can assist you."

"What about me and Dragon?" Blue inquired.

"You two run support, keep us healed up and take out the small fry," Hadari told them. "Once they are dealt with help whoever needs it."

"Wouldn't it be better if I fought Molotok?" Dragon asked. "My fire breath would roast him."

"I know, but Artillery isn't bulletproof and I have no idea how much punishment our gear will take. You are our best bet to take them out."

"Fine," Dragon said, sounding disappointed. But she understood his logic.

"What will Seriko do?" Satana asked. "She seems to be scared of that big pod," She pointed to where Seriko was hiding, behind a large piece of equipment, peaking out and staring at the pod containing the aforementioned Project Zero in fear.

Dragon walked over to her. "Hey, what's wrong?" she asked in a soothing tone.

"Bad," she said pointing at the pod.

"Don't worry, I'll… we'll protect you," Dragon assured her. "We're you're friends, and friends look after each other."

"Friends," Seriko said happily. She had heard that word a few times now and while she hadn't truly understood the word she knew it meant something special. She came out from her hiding place and stood with the others.

"Can you helps us move some stuff?" Hadari asked her.

"Yes," she nodded, looking more confident now.

"Ok, Hack, let Seriko know what can be moved and what needs to stay for us to get out if here," Hadari asked.

"Got it," Hack replied. "Come on Seriko, lets rip some stuff up."

Seriko had a big smile on her face, whether it was from helping the others or the idea of ripping stuff up, Hadari didn't know but either way their odds for getting out of this in once piece just got better.

Unbeknownst to them all, the crack on Zero's pod widened and inside it's prisoner chuckled, unheard by the Titan's or Harley.

 **-00000-**

Zaniel and Omen had finally arrived at the Boss's headquarters, much to the latter's relief. Omen's teleportation power wasn't the most comfortable form of travel. It felt like thousands of insects crawling over his skin every time they jumped. And they hadn't done it once, but about a dozen times, Omen's teleportation power was limited to a dozen miles at a time and each time felt worse than the last.

"Thank god that's over," Zaniel said, trying to supress a shudder and failing. The crawling feeling still lingering on his skin.

"Oh, don't be such a baby," Omen teased. "There are worse ways to travel."

Zaniel disagreed but kept quiet, he wasn't going to rise to the bait. Instead he focused his attention on the room they had teleported into. It looked like they had ported right into the Boss's office. It always surprised him by how sparsely decorated it was, then again the Boss was always a practical man, never showing off more than was necessary. It was large enough for about a dozen people to stand in comfortably, there were several . on the walls, all under a false name of course but impressive nonetheless. Two large windows took up two sides of the room, staring out into darkness.

In truth, it was not really any different from the millions of other offices in the world, but there was an intense aura of authority that emanated from every inch of it that was unmistakable. There was also a dark undertone, something that told whoever stood in this room that the Boss was not one to be messed with. It was either obey or get out of the way if you valued your life.

At one end of the room there was a solid oak desk with a computer, several folders stacked neatly on it, a silver tray, and three office chairs, two in front of it and one high back behind it. The high back office was turned away from them, looking out of the northern window and the only thing visible of the Boss was his left arm. He didn't say anything but gestured towards the empty chairs. Omen and Zaniel took the hint and sat down. There were sat there in silence for a minute before the Boss spoke up.

"Did you get what I asked for?" the Boss asked. His voice was strong but his accent was hard to pin down. It sounded halfway between a British one and a Texan.

"Of course," Omen replied, placing the flash drive on the silver tray.

Zaniel followed suit and carefully placed the vial of green liquid next to the flash drive. "May I ask why you made us wait so long to take them?" he asked. "We could have grabbed them months ago."

"I needed her to reach a certain point with her research," the Boss explained to Zaniel. "If you had taken it too soon then the data would have had nothing of value on it, and the serum would have been as useful as a flu shot. While my intelligence far outstrips hers, and everyone else on this backwater world for that matter, the sheer number of scientists she had at her disposal meant that she could acquire what I needed in half the time I could do on my own. She just needed a nudge in the right direction."

"So you've been manipulating her from the start?" Zaniel asked.

The boss chuckled. "Manipulated, guided, both words for the same thing. That's why I practically handed Zero over to her. As useful a tool as he was he served a better purpose as her guinea pig. Oh, that reminds me, Omen, did you place the transporter on his pod."

Omen chuckled. "I did, you can recover him whenever you want. Though his pod got a little damaged when I attached it so he "

"That will be no problem. If he gets out my son can take care of him," the Boss said with confidence.

"You think your son can handle him?" Zaniel questioned. "That's insane. You know what will happen if he gets close to anyone of significant power."

"Do not insult me, Zaniel," the Boss said dangerously. "You are a mere tool and I will dispose of you if you prove useless to me, or if I think your loyalty towards me wavers. Now, are you loyal?"

"Y-yes sir," he said, barely holding himself together.

"Good. It may seem like an unwise decision but I have my reasons. Should he prove too much of a hassle I will deal with him myself. Now, tell me about the alien."

"Not much to say," Zaniel told him. "She was strong, tough, fast and could shot energy out of her hands. Oh and she had a weird monkey-like tail."

The Boss spun in his chair to face them. He was wearing a black hooded cloak that covered his whole body from head to toe and a white featureless mask that didn't even have eye holes. Zaniel didn't know how he could see through it but he guessed it was something the Boss had built.

"Did you say monkey-like tail?" he growled.

"Y-yes."

"Impossible, they should be extinct. How the hell is there one on Earth," The Boss looked at his computer, as though it held answers. He turned his attention back to Zaniel and Omen and regaining his composure, "No matter. She'll be dealt with if necessary. For now though, you two are being assigned to a new task. I need you two to find a man named Michael Killian and offer your services as bodyguards. Do not take no for an answer, coerce him if you have to, his work is the final key to my project. But do not force him to speed it up, he needs to reach his goal naturally for it to work. Last I heard he was working somewhere in Greece, use that as a starting point."

The two of them took that as they were being excused. They stood and went to leave when the Boss called to them.

"Oh, and If, by some mysterious fate, you run into the Titan's or that alien again you are to run, do not engage. They are important to my plans too. Do I make myself clear," he said firmly.

"Yes sir," They both said

He sat in silence for a few minutes before he booted up his computer and started to type away. "So, there is still a living member of that species, it's almost impossible to believe," he said to himself. "She could proof either beneficial or detrimental to my plan. I'll have to tread carefully with this one."

 **-00000-**

 **End of Chapter 05**


	7. The Escape Part 3

**Chapter 06**

 **The Escape Part 3**

 **Unknown Location**

The Boss sat alone in his office, silently staring at his computer. Omen and Zaniel had only left a few minutes ago for their next mission but he was already rethinking his options. The emergence of this alien he thought was extinct was very disturbing, and the more he thought about it the more it worried him. There was only one thing for it. Test her abilities, see if she was a threat or not, and the best way to do that was to pit her against someone he had already evaluated. Good thing the transporter worked two ways. He could take Zero away from Waller and place his own pawn there at the same time. Kill two birds with one stone, so to speak.

He opened up a program on his computer and began searching through a list of superpowered subjects he had captured in the last few months, it wasn't as extensive as he would have liked but that was the price he paid to have Waller do most of his work for him, but there was one that was perfect.

"Grid, link Zero's pod with subject Six-Two-Six, and be ready to swap them on my mark" the Boss said aloud.

" _Affirmative,"_ a masculine mechanical voice replied.

"And inject it with a thousand milligrams of the Juice prototype," he added.

" _Warning, the Juice prototype will have no effect on Six-Two-Six's abilities due to her unique physiology,"_ the computer told him. " _In addition aggression levels will be increased to uncontrollable levels."_

"That is what I'm counting on," he chuckled.

 **Site One**

The Team had been working hard getting the room ready for their upcoming battle. All nonessential equipment was being moved to create shabby but hopefully sturdy waist high barricades in front of the three doors. They were to be set in pairs a few feet apart from each other with one closer to the door than the other. These gaps would hopefully funnel the heavy hitters towards them and still provide cover against the hails of bullets. They were even making one for the door they had come through, just in case the guards they had already beaten up woke and tried to flank them. They had also moved Seriko's pod to cover the control panel, just in case it got hit by a stray bullet. The last thing they wanted was for their only way out to be damaged. Plus, Hack had already downloaded everything from the pod to be translated later on so it was only really useful as a shield now.

Seriko and Dragon put the most work in here. With their strength they easily moved around the computers and equipment like they were pillows, building the barricades as easily as a child with Legos. They finished in a few minutes though their work looked a little rickety. Dragon had the perfect solution. She blew thin streams of fire onto the structures like a blow touch, welding them together and even going to the trouble of doing the same to the floor to make them harder for the Waller's thugs to knock over.

Satana was sat crossed legged on the floor, working on making a special enchantment using a chain of paper clips she found on a nearby desk as the focus. She told them it might not work, but if it did it would give them an edge. Enchantment wasn't her forte, she was much better at combat and alteration spells. But she had enough skill to do simple enchantments. She could summon a spirit or demon to aid them but her talent with that was even worse. She could call upon something that was either too powerful for her to control or too weak to do anything. So it was this or nothing.

Artillery was polishing her new sword off to one side with her coat sleeve, though at the same time she was looking all around the room for anything that could help in the upcoming battle. There was next to nothing she could use so she'd have to rely completely on her own skills, which suited her just fine, just as long as Harley didn't mess her up. She did however have a little surprise in store for Molotok, courtesy of Hack. He had given he a small device to test before they had left the Tower. Here's hoping it would work.

Speaking of Harley Quinn, she was off on her own, walking around the edges of the room. She had been unusually quiet since they had locked down the room. Every few steps she'd look over towards the pod containing Zero and scowl at it, though there was definitely fear in her thousand yard stare, which, judging by her familiarity with Zero, made perfect sense. The girls had tried to console her but she rebuffed them, saying that unless one of them was up for a quickie then leave her alone. Thankfully the boys were too far away to hear.

Once they were finished they joined Satana. She then handed Dragon the paper clip chain, now made into a necklace.

"You got the spell to work?" Dragon asked her.

"Yeah, it's only good for a few minutes though, steel is not the best conduit for magic," Satana replied. "It should double your strength, but afterwards your immune system will be shot to hell for a few days."

"Well, if we don't get out of here that will be the least of my worries," she told her putting on the paper clip necklace.

"Just tap it twice with two of your fingers to activate the spell," Satana told her.

Seriko saw Dragon with the paperclip necklace. "I want one," she said, sounding jealous.

"Here you go," Satana said, handing her another one.

"Yay!" Seriko exclaimed. She point it on and gave Satana a hug. Satana was a little put off by this but hugged her back. Seriko pulled away and ran off to show to guys.

"Did you put an enchantment on that one too?" Dragon asked.

"A very minor one," Satana said. "I used that one for practice. She may get a ten percent boost if she is lucky." She looked over to Seriko who was now bothering Hack. "She is a strange one. She has amazing power but the mind of a child."

"She's only like that because of whatever she went through before she got here," Dragon said through gritted teeth.

Satana noticed this. "Is that why you feel connected to her, because of your own ordeal?"

Dragon looked at her with shock. "How…"

"…Did I know?" Satana finished. "I noticed the way you hold yourself. You are not the only one that has gone through torment at another's hand. I have too. My mother's hand to be honest."

"Sorry… I didn't know," Dragon told her.

"You don't have to be sorry," Satana told her. "I was simply letting you know that you are not alone. And we will help Seriko, no matter what she has been through."

Dragon held back her tears. "Thank you."

"What are you guys talking about?" Artillery asked, walking over. She was examining her newly acquired emerald coloured blade with an almost amorous gaze.

"We were just wondering when you and your new sword were going to tie the knot," Satana teased.

"And when we will hear the pitter patter of little pommels," Dragon added.

"Har, har," Artillery said sarcastically. "But you have to admit, it's beautifully crafted sword. I wonder where they got it, or even who made it."

"Who knows," said Satana. "Just don't cut yourself too much when you consummate the marriage."

The girls were laughing as Harley had walked up just as they said that and became sombre.

Artillery noticed this, and against her better judgment asked, "Hey, you ok."

"Yeah, just thinking of Mr. J," she told them. "It's been two years since he passed but it sometimes feels like it was just yesterday."

The girls were unsure of what to say. During the Darkseid war the Joker uncharacteristically sacrificed himself flying a Boeing P-8 Poseidon bomber into one of the invasion ships over the Gotham bay, taking it down and saving the city. His last words were recorded to be "Nobody screws with Gotham but me," followed by his signature laugh. Even with all the murders and crimes he had committed he was remembered now as a hero, something that might have irked him were he alive. There had been sightings of him since then but many of these had been imposters, trying to keep his true legacy alive, the rest were false alarms.

Dragon, though she hated the clown girl, put a hand on her shoulder. "Sorry, I know we're on the opposite sides of the law but I know it isn't easy losing someone. If after all this you want to just talk about it, you can look us up in Metropolis."

Harley surprised Dragon by throwing her arms round her in a hug. "Thanks, frog girl," she said, choking back a sob.

"No problem," Dragon told her, letting the comment slide. "Just don't blow anything up when you get there."

Harley pulled away and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "No promises."

While the girls continued their back and forth banter, the boys were off on own doing their thing. They didn't have as much to do as Seriko and Dragon, but they tried to be as useful as possible.

Hadari was mentally picturing battle plans in his head but none of them were better than the one they had. If he had been on his own, or if they had fewer numbers, then maybe his Greek training would have been more beneficial. Back at Camp Half-Blood they trained the demigods to fight solo or in small groups, smaller than his team here. But he knew that his friends, and even Harley, were more than capable of making up for this, they could easily make up for his own shortcomings, and this bought a smile to his face.

Hack had been working on trying to get the zeta-pad active faster, hoping to avoid the upcoming fight if possible. But while the software was easier to get around the hardware was not. It was easy enough for him to hack into stuff but if the components were not up to the task there was little he could do, so he gave up and focused his attention on Seriko, who was very happy showing off he her necklace. She was a little bizarre, at least from his expectations of meeting a new alien lifeform. He had met aliens before, mostly members of the Justice League, and they had always been far more advanced than humans. To meet one that was primitive was a bit of a shock, but not a bad one. To be honest with himself he should guessed that if there were civilisations out there that were less advanced than Earth's as well. With little else to do he should learn as much about her as possible while they waited.

Blue was trying to charge his ring by concentrating on things that gave him hope and the hope of everyone else in the room. It sounded silly, even to him, but hopeful thoughts and the hope of others fuelled his ring. Thankfully, despite the odds, the team was mostly hopeful and it was fully charged in a few moments. He wasn't feeling too hopeful himself. After being mind-jacked by Omen he felt shaken and his mind kept drifting back to that terrible experience. But his friends needed him and being a baby wasn't going to help. He remembered his training with Saint Walker, the first Blue Lantern. He had told him that in times when hope may falter, talk with others to take your mind off of the doubt and hope will emerge.

"So… who do you think is the most attractive?" Blue asked Hadari, breaking the demigod's train of thought.

"What?"

"The girls," Blue went on, nodding towards Satana, Dragon, Artillery and Harley. "Which one do you think is the most attractive?"

Hadari blushed fiercely. "I… don't know. Why are you asking?"

Blue shrugged. "Because we don't really know that much about each other. We only met each other a few weeks ago and most of the time we did spend together was during training sessions. We learned to work and fight as a team. But we didn't really learn about each other, just little bits of conversation we had during meals but we were usually tired so we slumped off to bed and then start all over again the next day. And it was the first question that popped into my head."

"I never thought about it," Hadari said with guilt in his voice. "I was so focused on training I didn't think to connect with you guys."

"Hey, no worries. I'm an introvert by nature so I'm not much into bonding with others. Though I'll admit being around you guys has helped me break out my shell a little." Blue paused for a moment then spoke in a more subdued tone. "Honestly, I'm not too interested in who you have the hots for, I'm just trying to take my mind off of Omen hijacking my brain and whatever is coming at us through those doors for us."

"Don't worry, whatever Omen did we'll make sure she can't do it again," Hadari told him. "And if anything tries to stop us getting out of here then we'll go through them. Right Hack," Hadari said, trying to get him to join in the conversation. "Hack?" he said again when he didn't answer.

"Huh, oh sure," he said not having heard what they said. He was side-tracked with his wrist computer, which was emitting a blue light over Seriko.

"What are you doing there, Hack?" Blue asked.

"Well, while we wait for all hell to break loose I thought I'd scan Seriko's body, DNA and cell structure," He told them.

"You know, if you wanted to ask her out there are easier options," Blue teased.

Hack rolled his eyes underneath his helmet. "I'm trying to help her, not date her" he countered. "Obviously she isn't human. So we don't know how she'll react to the things that are normal to us. What effect will our bacteria and viruses have on her, or even our medicine? How will she deal with the levels of pollution in our atmosphere for long periods of time? Does her species have a mating season, and if so what will she be like when that time comes?" Hack took a breath. "I don't know how long she'll be here, maybe she'll stay on Earth, go back where she came from or find another place to live. But right now she is our responsibility and we need to take care of her."

Hadari and Blue looked at him with awe. Neither of them had thought about those things since Seriko had arrived. They just assumed she'd be fine, like many of the other aliens that had come to Earth. But now that they thought about it there was no guarantee this was true. Seriko wasn't paying attention to what they were saying, she just kept switching back and forth between them all trying to get their attention.

"That's our Hack, always thinking of the stuff we're too dense to think of," Hadari complemented.

"Did you learn anything?" Blue asked.

"A little," Hack told him. "She appears to have a strong immune system, though I'm not sure how strong yet. She might be immune to everything or only susceptible to certain things. But her digestive system is even stronger, I'm positive she'd be fine with Earth food, in fact she'd probably be able to eat anything."

Upon hearing the word "food" Seriko snapped to attention. "Food," she said excitedly. Her stomach seemed to respond to the word too and started growling loud enough for everyone in the room to hear. "Where?"

Everyone gathered around and looked at each other. Hadari spoke up. "We don't have any food. But we'll find you some once we get out of here."

"Hungry," she moaned and punched a computer in disappointment, trashing it. If they didn't deal with her hunger soon she might destroy their only way home, even if she didn't mean to. And they couldn't deal with her outbursts and with Waller's small army almost knocking at their doors. Hack came to the rescue and out of a compartment of his armour he produced what looked like a candy bar wrapping in silver foil. He unwrapped it revealing a familiar beige colour that both Hadari and Blue knew all too well.

"Oh gods, not your nutrition bars of death," Hadari exclaimed.

"What's wrong with my nutrition bars?" Hack asked.

"Apart from the fact they taste like sawdust, are as hard as bricks and forced me to remain within ten feet of a toilet at all times, everything!" Blue told him. "Not even my ring could heal the damage those bars did to my lower intestine."

"They were not that bad," Hack countered. "Besides, they weren't supposed to be tasty. They're supposed to…" he didn't get to finish as Seriko snatched the bar from his hand and ate the whole thing in one bite.

Everyone quickly took a step back, expecting her to flip out, Hadari even activated his shield just in case. Blue even stepped behind Hadari, just so he wouldn't be the first one to be hit by her, again.

"Yummy, I want more!" Seriko demanded, to everyone's surprise.

"You got it," Hack said, taking out the other five bars. He felt elation over the fact that someone liked his bars. He was usually a good cook, though he couldn't get the bars to taste good and offer the same nutritional benefits, the energy they would need and fill their stomachs just enough that they didn't go hungry on patrol.

Seriko ate all of them in a flash and burped loudly. She smiled widely at Hack. "Thank you," she then jumped up and gave Hack a bone crushing hug. Only his armour prevent his body from being reduced to a fleshy puddle.

"T… too… tight," Hack groaned.

"Oops, sorry," she said and let go.

"It's…" Hack was interrupted by a rapid beeping coming from the control console. He raced over to it, almost panicking as he did.

"What is it?" Dragon asked, joining the boys along with Satana and Artillery.

"You know those guys that were on their way here? Well they are here now?" Hack told them.

"I thought you said they'd be here in fifteen minutes,!" Artillery exclaimed.

"They must have picked up the pace," he told her.

"Everyone, get into positions," Hadari said. "We need to fight harder than we have before. They'll be looking to take us down. But we'll show them that we are tougher than they think. We'll be the ones to take them down, and we'll take them down hard."

It wasn't the best speech but it's effect was instant and noticeable. The others confidence grew and their moral went through the roof. He wasn't sure if it was his own natural charisma or it was linked to his demi-god abilities. Either way his team, and even Seriko, were all fired up. They were ready for a fight.

"You don't need to fight," said a male's voice. It sounded grim and caustic, as though every word he said was like acid in their ears. All eyes turned to the biggest of Waller's pods, the crack had widened to the point where Zero's hand could reach out. It was long and thin, as though he had been starved. "Let me out and I will take care of them for you."

"Oh holy balls," Harley exclaimed.

"How on Earth is he breaking that pod?" Hack asked. "From the data I gathered those pods should supress whatever powers he has."

"I ain't got no idea," Harley said. "I've only ever seen him out of his pod once and he was complete doped up at the time. But I have seen the damage he caused and believe me it wasn't pretty."

Zero cackled. "I merely defended myself. Besides those guards didn't need all those limbs."

"Yeah, I vote on not letting him out," Harley said.

"I second that," Artillery added, agreeing with the clown for once.

Hack put all his processing power into cracking the encryption on files for Zero. It would take a few minutes but judging from how the crack in the pod was widening he didn't have minutes.

"You heard them, you're staying put," Hadari told Zero.

Zero cackled again. "Oh, I'm getting out. Whether you let me out now or I break out myself will decide on if I kill you all or not."

Seriko, to everyone's surprise, stepped in-between the Titans and Zero's pod. "You… you not hurt friends," she stuttered with fear. "I… I not let you."

Dragon and Hadari put a hand on each of Seriko's shoulders in a reassuring way and she stood a little steadier.

"You think you can stop me," He laughed. "You're even more insane than I am."

"Hack, anyway to shut this guy up?" asked Blue.

"I could weld the hole shut but those pods are made specially made, it'd be like using duct tape to plug up a leaking ship," Hack told him.

"We could use Flex Tape," Blue offered.

Hack was about to tell him how stupid that idea was when a loud pounding coming from north door. A second later the noise came from east door and then the south.

"Look alive everyone, they're here," Hadari called.

"We can hear them," Dragon called back.

They all took their positions, Hadari took position by the east door, Satana the south and Artillery and Harley by the north. Dragon stood one side of Hadari and Blue the other, allowing them to cover every angle possible. Seriko never moved from her spot in front of Zero's pod. She stood firm and steadfast.

Hadari wanted to call Seriko away from Zero but he didn't have the chance. All three doors were torn through in no time and Waller's goons and a small army filed through them. They surrounded them on three sides, the big guns stood back while the cannon fodder took the forefront, aiming their guns at the Titans. The young heroes stood their ground an waited for their foes to make the first move.

"You kids have lots of explaining to do," Molotok said. "But if you give up and tell us where Omen is, I might let you keep your legs." His eyes fell on Harley. "Not you though, boss wants you bought in pieces."

"Not going to happen ugly," she told him. "Me and my new pals are getting out of here and you ain't stopping us."

"You braindead if you think you getting out of here alive."

"Look," Hadari yelled, taking over the conversation. "We don't know where Omen is and we don't care. She may have let us out but I'm pretty sure she only did so to screw with you. But we are getting out of here, even if we have to go through you. So, unless you want to get the ass kicking of your life I suggest you let my team go." Harley coughed. "And Harley too," he added.

Molotok glared at Hadari, then looked around at the makeshift barricades and the placements of the Titans. They were ready for a fight. But so was he.

"No deal," he told them. "I bring you all back to Waller. Then maybe she take notice of me."

Harley made gagging sounds. The Titans tried to stifle their laughter but failed, big time.

"You children laugh at me!" he yelled. "Maybe I rip off arms, see you laugh then."

While they were all talking and shouting, Seriko vigilantly watched over Zero's pod. He was getting stronger and she knew it, it was like a tingling sensation in the back of her head. He wasn't as strong as she was just yet, but he was getting close.

"Yes, I am getting stronger," Zero taunted. "You can sense my power just as I can sense yours. But mine will exceed yours and once I am out I'm going to kill everyone in this room. But I'll leave you to last, so you can watch me tear your friends apart limb by limb."

Seriko growled at him. She clenched her fist and it began to glow a bright violet colour

"That is, unless you kill me first," Zero told her. "Go ahead, blast me, kill me before I escape."

Seriko gritted her teeth and almost let her rage get the better of her. But she let the energy in her fist die down. "No, killing bad" she told him.

Zero chuckled. "Well, I did give you a chance. But now it's too late."

But before he could break out of his pod it was engulfed in a bright light. The pod vanished and in it's place there was a girl. She was taller than anyone of the team, towering over even Hadari by two inches and was well muscled. Her skin was white as snow and she had jet black hair in a Mohawk style cut. She had thick black eye shadow and matching lipstick. She wore a punk styled outfit with black, knee high, biker boots, bright pink pants, a belt with a laughing skull on it, a teal top that exposed her midriff with the word crush written in all capitals in black marker, a short sleeveless black leather jacket and long, black, fingerless, leather, gloves that reached her elbows. To top off her odd outfit she had a spiked collar around her neck. She gazed at them with bright red eyes and was breathing heavily.

"Um, hello," Hadari said tentatively.

Before anyone could react the girl howled in rage and grabbed Seriko by the throat. She lifted her as though she was nothing and held her there. Seriko grabbed a hold of the girls arm and tried to break her grip but the she wasn't as strong as the new girl.

"Oh great, another angry, super strong girl," Blue pointed out unnecessarily.

"Seriko!" Dragon yelled and went to take a step to aid her but the girl threw Seriko like a baseball at her. They collided with each other and were thrown backwards. They both hit a barricade and they both became embedded in it.

The other Titan's ran over to aid them. "Are you two ok?" Hack asked.

"Just my pride," Dragon said, pulling herself out and groaning. "And my back."

Seriko on the other hand was unconscious but breathing.

"Don't worry, I got you," Blue said, bathing them in healing light.

Hadari positioned himself between the Team and the girl. "Tell me who you are?" he demanded, aiming his spear at her. "Before I zap you into next week."

"I… I… am Crush," she said, as though she was barely in control. "I AM CRUSH!" she shouted again and raised her fist in the air. She then bought it down on the zeta-pad, splitting it down the middle. The shockwave that followed threw the remaining pods from it. The Titans and Harley managed to duck and avoid from being flattened by them. But Waller's guards were not as lucky. Three of the pods sent them flying like bowling pins while the forth rolled harmlessly away. The big guns had been far away enough that they had nothing to fear from the flying metal caskets.

"Well, there goes our way out," Harley pointed out.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," Satana responded.

They all stood up and everyone's attention was now on Crush. She was stronger than Seriko and she destroyed the zeta-pad like it was nothing. If the build quality of the pad matched the Justice League's one then that put her strength level around Superboy's by Hack's estimation. He glanced over to Hadari, who had come to the same conclusion and he was now trying to figure out a new plan.

"I'm… going… to.. kill you all," Crush said through gritted teeth. "KILL YOU ALL!"

It didn't look good for the Titan's. They were surrounded, they were a girl down, and now had another superpowered being to deal with. Backup was unlikely and their chances of getting out of here in one piece were slim to none. But they weren't going to give up, there was a way out of everything. And that way came in the form a screaming Seriko.

Recovered from her throttling, she roared in rage as she pulled herself out of the barrier of scrap and stared at Crush with a face twisted in rage. "You no hurt friends!" she yelled and launched herself at her. She closed the gap in the blink of an eye. Crush yelled back and took a swing at her. She ducked under the incoming blow and countered with her own punch, striking Crush squarely in the face so hard that she was thrown off her feet and impacted the western door, denting it. Crush tried to stand but she never got the chance. She was hit in the chest with a beam of violet energy, blasting her straight through the door and disappearing down the corridor.

Seriko raced up to the now destroyed door before turning to the others. "My fight," she told them. "You fight them," she pointed at the others and raced off down the corridor.

"We have to help her," Dragon said worryingly.

"You have other things to worry about, children," Molotok said taking a step forward, Bombshell and Mazahs following suit.

Hadari didn't know what to do but he had to do something, and he couldn't let Seriko face Crush alone. He was going to have to take these guys down fast and rush to her aid. No matter what, he was going to win here, even if it cost him his life.

Then all of a sudden time seemed to slow. He didn't notice anything at first but then his breathing and heartbeat slowed and it was taking a long time for him to blink. His perception hadn't slowed though and that meant only one thing. Godly communication.

" _Hey little brother,"_ an obnoxious voice spoke in his head. _"Looks like you're in a bit of a sticky situation."_

"Ares," Hadari said back. "What do you want?" he snapped.

" _Hey, now, is that the tone you should take with your favorite brother and your only chance to get out of here with your spine still inside your body,"_ he mocked.

Hadari would have gritted his teeth but it was only her perception that had been sped up to god level, not the rest of his body. "Sorry… brother."

" _That's better,"_ Ares responded. _"Now, since you have shown great courage and commitment to the fight, I'm going to give you my blessing. That should turn the odds in your favour."_

Hadari was taken aback by this. "Th-thank you. But why are you helping me?"

" _To be honest, I do want something from you in return. Four somethings, to be precise. But if you agree I'll help you here and I'll see what I can do about that curse of yours. So, what'd say little bro?"_

He didn't have much choice in the matter, they were up the River Styx without a paddle. He didn't want to owe Ares, the curse was a bane for him but to be indebted to a god might be the greater of two evils. If it were not for his friends being in danger he'd tell the god of war to shove it.

"I accept your help," Hadari told him. "And I swear on the River Styx to uphold my end of the bargain," he added, knowing Ares would make him swear anyway.

" _Excellent," the war god said, clapping his hands with a thunder-like boom. "Oh and brace yourself," he warned, "This might make your eyes water."_

Pain erupted in his skull and indeed it made his eyes water. But as time returned to its normal flow the pain subsided and was replaced with a feeling of overwhelming power and confidence. He unleashed a powerful blast of wind, knocking Molotok, Bombshell and Mazahs off their feet. This gust of wind was far more than anything he had done before, and he was holding back.

"Dragon, Hack, go help Seriko," he ordered with an air of absolute authority. "Everyone else same plan as before."

"On it," Dragon and Hack said simultaneously and ran after their new friend.

Molotok groaned and stood up. "You'll regret that."

"No, Molotok, you'll regret not letting us go when you had the chance," Hadari told him. "Titan's Go!"

 **-00000-**

The Boss walked through his own secret base at a comfortable stride. Unlike Waller's base, his was far more opened spaced. It was built inside a large dome and was more like a small city than a research facility and all the laboratories were the size of houses, or larger, and done-shaped as well. The place appeared mostly deserted, with only a few guards here and there to protect his more sensitive experiments. They were all dressed in matching black bodysuits with an emblem in the shape of a red and black scythe over the left side of their chests. They were not visibly armed, then again they didn't need to be. Those that were actually working on his project were doing so inside the domes, and there they would remain till they were finished, if they valued their lives.

After a few minutes of walking he came to one of the larger domes, protected by four of his guards. They saluted, but he ignored them and walked in. This building was where he imprisoned those he thought might aid his plan, whether as an experiment or to join him. The cells were pure white from top to bottom, from the beds to the toilets. There was no visible doors and a one way mirror in each cell but these were hidden from the prisoners view by disguising it as another wall. Everything in the cells was also designed to make as little noise as possible.

With white torture, the prisoner was made to experience extreme sensory deprivation and isolation to the point where they lose all sense of personal identity. It was a simple but effective method to break the minds of his prisoners, to re-forge them into tools that he could use. At least most of them. Crush had proved the exception to the rule, no matter what he did to her she just bounced back, hence his willingness to use her simple as a means to test the alien. He'd have to check the results later though, he had another task to attend to.

He came to the last cell in the prison, formally the one belonging to Crush. Looking through The pod that contained Zero had exploded, scattering and embedding its pieces all over the room. He must have broken out a split second after he teleported in, otherwise the power inhibitors in the room would have prevented it. Still, it didn't matter, it made no difference to his plan. In the center of the pod's remains, looking right at him as though he knew he was there, was Project Zero.

He was tall and thin, almost skeleton-like and couldn't be more than sixteen or seventeen years old. His cheeks were gaunt and his eyes were sunken and hollow but his emerald eyes shone through with a glint of madness in them. His light red hair was long and messy, looking like it hadn't been cut in years. He wore a jet black, sleeveless bodysuit with silver lining on the sides of it.

The Boss pressed a button and the one way viewscreen vanished, allowing Zero and the Boss to talk face to mask.

"Who are you?" Zero asked.

"My name is unimportant young man," the Boss told him. "What is important is your power, and what you intend to do with it."

"That's none of your business you masked freak!" Zero shouted at him.

"But it is my business, young man, however talking to you through a window is very impolite of me," He gestured to the side of him where a door that had been previously invisible to Zero slid open, "Come, let us talk face to face."

Zero cautiously stepped out of the cell, keeping his eyes on the Boss as he did. Once he was out he looked around him, noticing there were no guards, no weapons, nothing to stop him leaving except for the man in front of him, though he was unsure about what lay outside.

"What's your game, Mr Unimportant?" Zero inquired. "I'm guessing you know who and what I am capable of. So you know I could walk out of here and you'd couldn't stop me."

"I know all about your abilities and I know Waller took them all away them to use in her own experiments, and right now we are on an even playing field. So do not threaten me," the Boss warned. "Besides, I would rather offer you a job. You have the potential to be an extremely powerful individual and I'd hate for that to go to waste, rotting in some cell. But I also can't have you interfering with my plans. So, here's the deal, you can work for me or go free, but if you go on your merry wat know that if you interfere with any of my plans I have a way to kill you, even should you reach your full potential."

Zero looked at him cautiously and curiously asked "What is this job?"

"Mostly killing, especially those that would hinder my plans," the Boss told him. "As an added bonus you make acquire any abilities you want. So, what do you say, Kid Amazo."

Upon hearing his real name, Kid Amazo smiled widely. "What do I say, I say when do I start?"

 **-00000-**

 **End of Chapter 06**


	8. Rewrite

Well, I messed up.

I have basically fallen into the same pitfall I have every time I have tried to make this series and done too much too quickly and then left myself unable to keep up with my own notes

Everything I have done so far should have been spread over the whole series and I crammed them all into these few chapters and made many mistakes that are not apparent yet but will be

So I am going to try and rewrite the chapters and hopefully not screw up again

If I cannot I may consider giving this story up for adoption and send someone all my notes (about 100 pages worth) and hope they can do what I have failed to do

For those that have stuck around while I have continually failed I thank you so much, for those that are fed up with me and wish to unfollow me and these stories I understand fully and thank you for staying with me this long


	9. Update

**A little Q &A for where I have been and what has been going on with the story that was supposed to have had a soft reboot (again)**

 **Q: Where have I been?**

A: Basically, life has been getting in the way of me writing this story and I have been stressed out so much that a lot of my spare time has gone into just playing video games to keep myself sane. That doesn't mean I haven't put any time into it, but it hasn't been much, more like 5 minutes here or there.

I also learned that the "Friend" that made the OC Hadari and I thought had died had faked his death to try and avoid a fine of some kind. I don't know all the details and I only learned through another of his now ex-friends and I frankly I don't want to know or care to know. All I do know is he is now in prison and I hope he rots.

But since I have already got a storyline for his character done, I will not be discarding it, just changing him to the point where he will be more like an OC of my own. I don't know if I'll keep his Hero name as Hadari (Hadari is Hausa for Storm or Danger according to google translate) or change it to a name people will understand more.

I'll also be removing all the stuff from the Rick Riordan series I was adding to "honour" my ex-friend's wishes. I may take references from the series but only minor things.

 **Q: What's going on with the story?**

A: As I have said before I do not wish to give up on this and the reason I keep having to reboot it is I keep going off script so much that I make things way too complicated by adding multiple intersecting stories with dozens of characters and by the time I notice I'm so far off script that I have no idea what to do with all the characters or what I had planned.

I am working on the new version as we speak though this time I am writing the story script out for the first part before I begin first so when I finally get writing it I will always have something to work with (I should have done this from the beginning but I am stupid).

I am also not going to skip over the Apokolips part this time. Before I wanted to skip over that and leave it up to interpretation while adding little hints here and there. This time I will be starting with that.

 **Q: How long till the new story is up?**

A: No idea, I'm taking my time with it this time round so I don't screw anything up (again). I don't think it will be this side of the year but hopefully I will be able to start uploading in January, but no promises.

 **Q: Anything Else?**

A: I will be taking OC's at a later point to fill in minor roles. I will use them all, even if it is just a name drop, and the more interesting ones will get chapters dedicated to them. Please be aware that all OC's can be killed off if the story needs it and they may not die in a very heroic way.

For example, they may just get stabbed in the back by a sneaky enemy or be swatted aside by someone that is way out of their league without being able to put up a fight. Basically, like what the comics sometimes do. So, if you don't want to make an OC that can be killed off then please do not submit one.

However, I am not just going to kill people's OCs off at random for no reason whatsoever. They will only die if the story needs it and I will take into consideration of the OC's powers, skills and experience first. Please don't submit anything yet though, I need to create a new, specific character sheet for it.

The rating of the story will be a high T rating to match Young Justice: Outsiders (Season 3 for those that might not know). Basically, if it can appear in a 15 rated movie it can appear in the story. If the story calls for it there may even be sexual encounters but like those that were in the Simpsons/Futurama or in the latest season of Young Justice where it is simply implied and will not go into more detail than that.


End file.
